Abstract
Different approaches to quantum gravity, such as string theory1,2 and loop quantum gravity, as well as doubly special relativity3 and gedanken experiments in black-hole physics4,5,6, all indicate the existence of a minimal measurable length7,8 of the order of the Planck length, 
. This observation has motivated the proposal of generalized uncertainty relations, which imply changes in the energy spectrum of quantum systems. As a consequence, quantum gravitational effects could be revealed by experiments able to test deviations from standard quantum mechanics9,10,11, such as those recently proposed on macroscopic mechanical oscillators12. Here we exploit the sub-millikelvin cooling of the normal modes of the ton-scale gravitational wave detector AURIGA, to place an upper limit for possible Planck-scale modifications on the ground-state energy of an oscillator. Our analysis calls for the development of a satisfactory treatment of multi-particle states in the framework of quantum gravity models.
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Acknowledgements
F. Marin and F. Marino thank D. Seminara and M. Inguscio for useful discussions.
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F. Marin conceived the work, which was further developed with F. Marino and all other authors. F. Marin and F. Marino wrote the manuscript with input from all of the authors.
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Marin, F., Marino, F., Bonaldi, M. et al. Gravitational bar detectors set limits to Planck-scale physics on macroscopic variables. Nature Phys 9, 71–73 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2503
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2503
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