Abstract
Theories of quantum gravity based on the holographic principle predict the existence of quantum fluctuations of distance measurements that accumulate and exhibit correlations over macroscopic distances. This paper models an expected signal due to this phenomenology, and details the design and estimated sensitivity of co-located twin table-top 3D interferometers being built to measure or constrain it. The experiment is estimated to be sensitive to displacements in a frequency band between 1 and 250 MHz, surpassing previous experiments and enabling the possible observation of quantum gravity phenomena. The experiment will also be sensitive to MHz gravitational waves and various dark matter candidates.
Highlights
A physical description of nature including gravity at the Planck scale has not yet been found
The use of co-located interferometers to search for signatures of quantum gravity is not new; the same concept has been employed in the Fermilab Holometer
It is evident in similar state-of-the-art interferometry experiments, gravitational wave (GW) interferometers and the Fermilab Holometer, that the maximum experimentally attainable sensitivity in the MHz range is currently limited by photon shot noise
Summary
A physical description of nature including gravity at the Planck scale has not yet been found. Given the theoretical evidence that quantum space-time fluctuations are different for distances transverse to and along light-sheets and exhibit certain angular correlations (see above), the geometry of the Holometer might greatly reduce its sensitivity to these phenomena, as the interferometer arms are orthogonal to each other and employ only light paths along the light-sheet. The prediction that quantum space-time fluctuations are described by a nonconstant angular two-point correlation function implies that the signal due to these fluctuations in interferometers depends on the angle between the arms, as an interferometer produces a signal only for anti-correlated changes in the length of its arms This warrants a reconfigurable interferometer design in which the angle between the arms can be varied between measurements. A simple model in which the quantum space-time fluctuations affect photon geodesics through perturbations of the Minkowski metric according to this particular statistical phenomenological prediction is used to derive a frequency-domain signal
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