When:
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CT
Where: Technological Institute, F160, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Tina Hoff
(847) 491-3645
Group: AMO: The Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Seminar
Category: Lectures & Meetings
Title: Massive non-classical states and the observation of quantum gravity
Speaker: Dan Carney, University of Maryland/NIST
Abstract: Recent advances in quantum cooling, control, and measurement of mechanical systems have opened the possibility of the first direct observation of quantum gravity, at scales achievable in laboratories. I will give a broad and informal overview of this idea from the perspective of a high-energy theorist. Some simple gedanken matter-wave and optomechanical systems will illustrate the predictions of a variety of models of low-energy quantum gravity. We first review the treatment of perturbatively quantized general relativity as an effective quantum field theory, and then move on to a variety of alternative models, such as those in which gravity is classical, emergent, or is invoked as a fundamental decoherence channel. I will emphasize opportunities and challenges for both experimentalists and theorists.