Gravitational Effects in Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

To date, both quantum theory, and Einstein's theory of general relativity have passed every experimental test in their respective regimes. Nevertheless, almost since their inception, there has been debate surrounding whether they should be unified and by now there exists strong theoretical arguments pointing to the necessity of quantising the gravitational field. In recent years, a number of experiments have been proposed which, if successful, should give insight into features at the Planck scale. Here we review some of the motivations, from the perspective of semi-classical arguments, to expect new physical effects at the overlap of quantum theory and general relativity. We conclude with a short introduction to some of the proposals being made to facilitate empirical verification.

24 pages, 3 figures, review article. Submitted to Contemporary Physics

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• Cosmological Horizons, Uncertainty Principle and Maximum Length Quantum Mechanics
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• Quantum-optical tests of Planck-scale physics
• Primordial Power Spectra of Cosmological Fluctuations with Generalized Uncertainty Principle and Maximum Length Quantum Mechanics
• On deformations of classical mechanics due to Planck-scale physics
• Probing Uncertainty Relations in Non-Commutative Space
• Optical squeezing for an optomechanical system without quantising the mechanical motion
• Nonlinear Schrödinger equation from generalized exact uncertainty principle
• Wave optics of quantum gravity for massive particles
• Enhanced Gravitational Entanglement via Modulated Optomechanics
• Decoherence of a composite particle induced by a weak quantized gravitational field
• Noisy effects in interferometric quantum gravity tests
• Bound on dissipative effects from semileptonic neutral B-meson decays
• Quantum Physics in Space