Randomness in Data Could Help Physicists Find Evidence for Quantum Gravity

Noisy measurements of gravitational waves may illuminate what links gravity to other fundamental forces. View in browser

Image credits: posteriori/Shutterstock Randomness in Data Could Help Physicists Find Evidence for Quantum Gravity Noisy measurements of gravitational waves may illuminate what links gravity to other fundamental forces. Charles Q. Choi, Contributor September 3, 2021                                                                                                                                                                               (Inside Science) -- Countless experiments suggest all of the universe's fundamental forces follow the laws of quantum mechanics, save gravity. Now theoretical physicists suggest that looking for irregularities in ripples in the fabric of space and time may help reveal that gravity is quantum as well. Quantum physics suggests that everything is fundamentally made of packets of energy known as quanta that can each behave like both a particle and a wave. Quanta of light are called photons, and the long-postulated elementary particles of gravity are known as gravitons. Detecting gravitons would prove gravity is quantum. However, because gravity is extraordinarily weak, scientists would need... Read more Copyright 2021 American Institute of Physics. Inside Science syndicates its articles, columns, blogs and videos to news organizations. To initiate syndication, or request permission to republish our content (on a one-time or continuing basis), please contact Inside Science at insidescience@aip.org. News organizations seeking permission to republish Inside Science content must fully credit Inside Science as the original source of the content, include the author byline, and republish the original, unaltered form (excluding content titles, headlines, or sub-headlines). The reprint format can be seen here. Copyright conditions and usage terms are subject to change at any time without consent or any type of prior notice. To unsubscribe from all future mailings from Inside Science please click here. To manage your email subscriptions please click here.

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