Probing Planck-scale physics with quantum optics
Probing Planck-scale physics with quantum optics
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DOI：
10.1038/nphys2262
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发表时间：
2012-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
19.6
通讯作者：
Brukner, Caslav
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pikovski, Igor;Vanner, Michael R.;Brukner, Caslav
当今物理学的主要挑战之一是将量子理论和广义相对论合并到一个统一的框架中。研究人员正在开发各种方法来建立这样一个量子引力理论，但一个主要的障碍是缺乏量子引力效应的实验证据。然而，时空本身的量子化可能具有实验意义：人们普遍期望最小长度尺度的存在会导致海森堡不确定性关系的修正。本文介绍了一种通过直接探测质量接近普朗克质量的机械振子的质心模态的正则换易关系来实验验证这一猜想的方案。我们的方案使用量子光学控制和机械系统的读出来探测在普朗克尺度下量子交换关系的可能偏差。我们证明了该方案是目前技术所能达到的。因此，它为桌面实验探索可能的量子引力现象开辟了一条可行的途径。
One of the main challenges in physics today is to merge quantum theory and the theory of general relativity into a unified framework. Researchers are developing various approaches towards such a theory of quantum gravity, but a major hindrance is the lack of experimental evidence of quantum gravitational effects. Yet, the quantization of spacetime itself can have experimental implications: the existence of a minimal length scale is widely expected to result in a modification of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. Here we introduce a scheme to experimentally test this conjecture by probing directly the canonical commutation relation of the centre-of-mass mode of a mechanical oscillator with a mass close to the Planck mass. Our protocol uses quantum optical control and readout of the mechanical system to probe possible deviations from the quantum commutation relation even at the Planck scale. We show that the scheme is within reach of current technology. It thus opens a feasible route for table-top experiments to explore possible quantum gravitational phenomena.