Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: What if gravity is classical? If true, a consistent coexistence of classical gravity and quantum matter requires that gravity exhibit irreducible fluctuations. These fluctuations can mediate classical correlations, but not quantum entanglement, between the quantized motion of the gravitationally interacting matter. We use a consistent theory of quantum-classical dynamics in the Newtonian limit of gravity to show that experimentally relevant observables can conclusively test the hypothesis that gravity is classical. This can be done, for example, by letting highly coherent source masses interact with each other gravitationally, and performing precise measurements of the cross-correlation of their motion. Theory predicts a characteristic phase response that distinguishes classical gravity from quantum gravity, and from naive sources of decoherence. Such experiments are imminently viable.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Serhii Kryhin, Vivishek Sudhir
Institutions: Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4407406984