Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 6: Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology

GR 6.1: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 14:00–14:20, H 2013

Probing the limits of classical gravity with trapped macroscopic quantum systems — •André Großardt — Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy

Whether gravity is quantised - and therefore correctly described by perturbative quantum gravity in the low-energy regime - is still subject to experimental tests. Here I discuss the most naive alternative, a theory in which the classical Einstein's equations are fundamental even at the microscopic level, and the gravitational field is sourced by the expectation value of energy-momentum - also known as "semi-classical gravity". In its non-relativistic limit, such a theory leads to the nonlinear Schrödinger-Newton equation, for which prospects for experimental tests will be discussed, particularly with trapped crystalline nanospheres.