aiqbench analysis
This paper proposes a phenomenological model for detecting quantum gravity effects by calculating the gravitational Lamb shift in anisotropic quantum rigid rotors. By leveraging the collective influence of many constituents, the study suggests a feasible experimental pathway to test whether gravity is inherently quantum without requiring extreme energy scales. The work bridges condensed matter concepts like angulon quasiparticles with foundational physics, offering a concrete target for future analogue experiments.
Lamb shift of rotational energy levels in quantum gravity
arXiv:2610.28754v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: One of the major challenges of modern foundational physics is the combination of quantum physics and general relativity into a theory of quantum gravity. A severe obstacle are the required extremely high energy scales for direct tests of quantum gravity effects. In recent years, attention has shifted towards near-future experimental predictions of effective or phenomenological models, such as gravitationally induced entanglement or interactions of linearized gravity with non-relativistic measurement devices. These developments motivate us to study the coupling between the quantized metric perturbation and an anisotropic quantum rigid rotor. The intuitive motivation for our study is that a sufficiently heavy rotor consists of a very large number of component systems. Although quantum gravitational effects are completely negligible at the scale of a single atom or molecule, the effects can get amplified by the sheer number of constituents. The resulting effective model describes the gravitational analogue of the angulon quasiparticle excitations discussed in condensed matter physics, suggesting a pathway for future analogue experiments. As a first concrete test of our model, we derive the gravitational Lamb shift for the energy eigenstates of the rotor, which become dressed by a cloud of virtual gravitons. Although the effect is very small, it could provide a concrete test for whether gravity is truly quantum.
Abstract:One of the major challenges of modern foundational physics is the combination of quantum physics and general relativity into a theory of quantum gravity. A severe obstacle are the required extremely high energy scales for direct tests of quantum gravity effects. In recent years, attention has shifted towards near-future experimental predictions of effective or phenomenological models, such as gravitationally induced entanglement or interactions of linearized gravity with non-relativistic measurement devices. These developments motivate us to study the coupling between the quantized metric perturbation and an anisotropic quantum rigid rotor. The intuitive motivation for our study is that a sufficiently heavy rotor consists of a very large number of component systems. Although quantum gravitational effects are completely negligible at the scale of a single atom or molecule, the effects can get amplified by the sheer number of constituents. The resulting effective model describes the gravitational analogue of the angulon quasiparticle excitations discussed in condensed matter physics, suggesting a pathway for future analogue experiments. As a first concrete test of our model, we derive the gravitational Lamb shift for the energy eigenstates of the rotor, which become dressed by a cloud of virtual gravitons. Although the effect is very small, it could provide a concrete test for whether gravity is truly quantum.
26 pages, 2 figures. Authors are in alphabetical order
arXiv:2610.28754 [gr-qc]
(or arXiv:2610.28754v1 [gr-qc] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.28754 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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Full text under the publisher's open licence · 310 words
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