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This Simple Thought Experiment Shows Why We Need Quantum Gravity

“The description that General Relativity puts forth — that of matter telling space how to curve, and curved space telling matter how to move — needs to be augmented to include an uncertain position that has a probability distribution to it. Whether gravity is quantized or not is still an unknown, and has everything to do with the outcome of such a hypothetical experiment. How an uncertain position translates into a gravitational field, exactly, remains an unsolved problem on the road to a full quantum theory of gravity. The principles that underlie quantum mechanics must be universal, but how those principles apply to gravity, and in particular to a particle passing through a double slit, is a great unknown of our time.”

Perhaps the greatest holy grail in theoretical physics is the quest for a quantum theory of gravity. For all the gravitational phenomena we’ve ever measured, observed, or subjected to a test, General Relativity has come through with predictions that match what we’ve seen exactly. For all the other physical phenomena in the Universe, the rules of quantum field theory and the Standard Model of particle physics match up perfectly. But what would happen if we tried to apply General Relativity to an inherently quantum phenomenon? In particular, what happens if we fire a single particle, like an electron, through a double slit? What happens to that particle’s gravitational field?

Believe it or not, measuring that (or something analogous to it) would tell us whether gravity is a fundamentally quantum force or not! Come learn why this is arguably the most important, first stop on the road to quantum gravity.

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DAILY MINIMAL - Islamic Design Week (.02)

A new geometric design every day

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Sandú Darié

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Dreaming Of Wounds

Medicine

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Black & White pattern by Greek architect Aristide Antonas .

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“If Not Now, Then Sometime Later”

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