Quantum gravity: Researchers are trying to prove its existence by tracking elementary particles to the South Pole

Today, physics is divided into two fields of study. “Classical physics describes phenomena in our ordinary environment, such as gravity, while the atomic world can only be described using quantum mechanics”Assistant Professor Tom Stuttard of the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) at the University of Copenhagen explains.

But these two worlds may soon reunite and become one: In a study published in Nature Physics, Tom Stuthard outlines a grand scheme for tracking the signals of quantum gravity. If this concept exists, it will allow “The unification of quantum theory and gravity”., professor and co-author of the study, estimates. According to him, it is “One of the most important challenges in fundamental physics”.

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Observation of neutrinos, neutral and nearly massless particles

In their search for quantum gravity, the NBI team faced a major problem. To date, there is no theoretical framework to justify the existence of quantum gravity. But the study conducted by the researchers makes it possible to establish a method to achieve this.

“For years, many physicists have doubted whether experiments could ever hope to test quantum gravity. Our analysis shows that it is indeed possible.”Welcomes Tom Stuart.

A large-scale experiment was set up in Antarctica. The Niels Bohr Institute collaborated with American researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to operate the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, which has more than 5,000 sensors placed between 1,500 and 2,500 meters above sea level. Depth in the ice sheet.

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With this installation, physicists were able to observe more than 300,000 neutrinos. These elementary particles are electrically neutral and almost massless. Thus, they are not subject to electromagnetic and nuclear forces. This allows them to travel billions of light years in their original state.

Nothing has yet changed to prove the existence of quantum gravity

To prove the existence of quantum gravity, physicists at the University of Copenhagen examined the properties of neutrinos to detect changes. “If neutrinos undergo subtle changes that we suspect, this would constitute strong evidence for quantum gravity”

NBI Assistant Professor Tom Stuttard explains.

Neutrinos can adopt three basic configurations, called electronic, Munich, and Tieck “flavors”. The observed pattern changes as the neutrinos move, in a phenomenon known as neutrino oscillation, says the University of Copenhagen. Quantum coherence would require quantum behavior to be maintained at tens of thousands of kilometers or more.

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So far, the NBI team has not seen any changes in the neutrino configuration that can be attributed to quantum gravity. Tom Stuttard recalls that the main aim of the study was to establish a mechanism that could prove the existence of quantum gravity.