Testing Quantum Gravity Induced Nonlocality via Optomechanical Quantum Oscillators

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 116; no. 16; p. 161303
• Main Authors: Belenchia, Alessio, Benincasa, Dionigi M T, Liberati, Stefano, Marin, Francesco, Marino, Francesco, Ortolan, Antonello
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 22-04-2016
• Subjects: Compressing; Equations of motion; Evolution; Invariants; Oscillators; Quantum gravity; Schroedinger equation; Tables (data)
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.161303

Several quantum gravity scenarios lead to physics below the Planck scale characterized by nonlocal, Lorentz invariant equations of motion. We show that such nonlocal effective field theories lead to a modified Schrödinger evolution in the nonrelativistic limit. In particular, the nonlocal evolution of optomechanical quantum oscillators is characterized by a spontaneous periodic squeezing that cannot be generated by environmental effects. We discuss constraints on the nonlocality obtained by past experiments, and show how future experiments (already under construction) will either see such effects or otherwise cast severe bounds on the nonlocality scale (well beyond the current limits set by the Large Hadron Collider). This paves the way for table top, high precision experiments on massive quantum objects as a promising new avenue for testing some quantum gravity phenomenology.