Experiments have recently been proposed testing whether quantum gravitational interactions generate entanglement between adjacent masses in position superposition states. We propose potentially less challenging experiments that test quantum gravity against theories with classical space-times defined by postulating semi-classical gravity (or classical effects of similar scale) for mesoscopic systems.
We consider the question of whether consistency arguments based on measurement theory show that the gravitational field must be quantized. Motivated by the argument of Eppley and Hannah, we apply a DeWitt-type measurement analysis to a coupled system that consists of a gravitational wave interacting with a mass cube. We also review the arguments of Eppley and Hannah and of DeWitt, and investigate a second model in which a gravitational wave interacts with a quantized scalar field. We argue that one cannot conclude from the existing gedanken experiments that gravity has to be quantized. Despite the many physical arguments which speak in favor of a quantum theory of gravity, it appears that the justification for such a theory must be based on empirical tests and does not follow from logical arguments alone.
Quantum gravity aims to describe gravity in quantum mechanical terms. How exactly this needs to be done remains an open question. Various proposals have been put on the table, such as canonical quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity, string theory, etc. These proposals often encounter technical and conceptual problems. In this chapter, we focus on canonical quantum gravity and discuss how many conceptual problems, such as the measurement problem and the problem of time, can be overcome by adopting a Bohmian point of view. In a Bohmian theory (also called pilot-wave theory or de Broglie-Bohm theory, after its originators de Broglie and Bohm), a system is described by certain variables in space-time such as particles or fields or something else, whose dynamics depends on the wave function. In the context of quantum gravity, these variables are a space-time metric and suitable variable for the matter fields (e.g., particles or fields). In addition to solving the conceptual problems, the Bohmian approach yields new applications and predictions in quantum cosmology. These include space-time singularity resolution, new types of semi-classical approximations to quantum gravity, and approximations for quantum perturbations moving in a quantum background.
Quantum illumination is a quantum sensing technique where entanglement is exploited to improve the detection of low-reflectivity targets in a strong thermal background. In this paper, we study the quantum illumination of suspected targets under the curved spacetime background of the Earth. It is counterintuitive to find that to achieve the same error-probability both target detection scenarios, the illumination strategy curved spacetime consumes less resources than the flat spacetime strategy. That is to say, the gravitational effect of the Earth can promote the efficiency of quantum spatial target detection. This is because the average particle number of the thermal signal reflected in the curved spacetime is always less than the number in flat spacetime. We also find that the spatial quantum target detection with bipartite entangled state is more efficient than the coherent state strategy in the curved spacetime.
The back reactions of Hawking radiation allow nontrivial correlations between consecutive Hawking quanta, which gives a possible way of resolving the paradox of black hole information loss known as the hidden messenger method. In a recent work of Ma {it et al} [arXiv:1711.10704], this method is enhanced by a general derivation using small deviations of the states of Hawking quanta off canonical typicality. In this paper, we use this typicality argument to study the effects of generic back reactions on the quantum geometries described by spin network states, and discuss the viability of entropy conservation in loop quantum gravity. We find that such back reactions lead to small area deformations of quantum geometries including those of quantum black holes. This shows that the hidden-messenger method is still viable in loop quantum gravity, which is a first step towards resolving the paradox of black hole information loss in quantum gravity.
In a recent article Wang et al. (Class. Quantum Grav. 23 (2006) L59), demonstrated that the phase of a particle fluctuates due to interactions with random deviations of a conformal gravitational field. Furthermore they demonstrated that atom interferometers are sensitive to these fluctuations and that sensitivity to Planck scale effects could be achieved with a sufficiently sensitive interferometer. In this paper we demonstrate that a class of entangled states, the N-atom Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, provide a better scaling than atom interferometers and that current experiments are capable of making a significant impact in this field. We outline an experiment which uses atomic beams of rubidium atoms excited to Rydberg states. The atoms undergo controlled collisions in high quality factor microwave resonators in a sequence that makes the resulting state highly sensitive to conformal field fluctuations. We show that a significant advance in sensitivity is possible.