Holographic Noise in Michelson Interferometers: A Direct Experimental Probe of Unification at the Planck Scale
- OSTI/ DOE
Classical spacetime and quantum mass-energy form the basis of all of physics. They become inconsistent at the Planck scale, 5.4 times 10^{-44} seconds, which may signify a need for reconciliation in a unified theory. Although proposals for unified theories exist, a direct experimental probe of this scale, 16 orders of magnitude above Tevatron energy, has seemed hopelessly out of reach. However in a particular interpretation of holographic unified theories, derived from black hole evaporation physics, a world assembled out of Planck-scale waves displays effects of unification with a new kind of uncertainty in position at the Planck diffraction scale, the geometric mean of the Planck length and the apparatus size. In this case a new phenomenon may measurable, an indeterminacy of spacetime position that appears as noise in interferometers. The colloquium will discuss the theory of the effect, and our plans to build a holographic interferometer at Fermilab to measure it.
- Research Organization:
- FNAL (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States))
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 987258
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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