Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves
For the purpose of analyzing observed phenomena, it has been convenient, and thus far sufficient, to regard gravity as subject to the deterministic principles of classical physics, with the gravitational field obeying Newton's law or Einstein's equations. Here we treat the gravitational fi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society (APS)
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/142335 |
| _version_ | 1811079233947041792 |
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| author | Parikh, Maulik Wilczek, Frank Zahariade, George |
| author_facet | Parikh, Maulik Wilczek, Frank Zahariade, George |
| author_sort | Parikh, Maulik |
| collection | MIT |
| description | For the purpose of analyzing observed phenomena, it has been convenient, and thus far sufficient, to regard gravity as subject to the deterministic principles of classical physics, with the gravitational field obeying Newton's law or Einstein's equations. Here we treat the gravitational field as a quantum field and determine the implications of such treatment for experimental observables. We find that falling bodies in gravity are subject to random fluctuations ("noise") whose characteristics depend on the quantum state of the gravitational field. We derive a stochastic equation for the separation of two falling particles. Detection of this fundamental noise, which may be measurable at gravitational wave detectors, would vindicate the quantization of gravity, and reveal important properties of its sources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:11:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/142335 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:11:58Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | American Physical Society (APS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1423352022-05-05T03:27:56Z Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves Parikh, Maulik Wilczek, Frank Zahariade, George For the purpose of analyzing observed phenomena, it has been convenient, and thus far sufficient, to regard gravity as subject to the deterministic principles of classical physics, with the gravitational field obeying Newton's law or Einstein's equations. Here we treat the gravitational field as a quantum field and determine the implications of such treatment for experimental observables. We find that falling bodies in gravity are subject to random fluctuations ("noise") whose characteristics depend on the quantum state of the gravitational field. We derive a stochastic equation for the separation of two falling particles. Detection of this fundamental noise, which may be measurable at gravitational wave detectors, would vindicate the quantization of gravity, and reveal important properties of its sources. 2022-05-04T17:12:42Z 2022-05-04T17:12:42Z 2021 2022-05-04T17:07:01Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/142335 Parikh, Maulik, Wilczek, Frank and Zahariade, George. 2021. "Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves." Physical Review Letters, 127 (8). en 10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.127.081602 Physical Review Letters Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf American Physical Society (APS) APS |
| spellingShingle | Parikh, Maulik Wilczek, Frank Zahariade, George Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves |
| title | Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves |
| title_full | Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves |
| title_fullStr | Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves |
| title_short | Quantum Mechanics of Gravitational Waves |
| title_sort | quantum mechanics of gravitational waves |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/142335 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT parikhmaulik quantummechanicsofgravitationalwaves AT wilczekfrank quantummechanicsofgravitationalwaves AT zahariadegeorge quantummechanicsofgravitationalwaves |