From B-modes to quantum gravity and unification of forces
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Wilczek_From b-modes.pdf
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Author(s)
Krauss, Lawrence M.
Wilczek, Frank
Date Issued
June 2014
Journal
International Journal of Modern Physics D
Publisher
World Scientific Publishing
Citation
Krauss, Lawrence M., and Frank Wilczek. “From B-Modes to Quantum Gravity and Unification of Forces.” Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 23, no. 12 (October 2014): 1441001.
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
It is commonly anticipated that gravity is subjected to the standard principles of quantum mechanics. Yet some — including Einstein — have questioned that presumption, whose empirical basis is weak. Indeed, recently Dyson has emphasized that no conventional experiment is capable of detecting individual gravitons. However, as we describe, if inflation occurred, the universe, by acting as an ideal graviton amplifier, affords such access. It produces a classical signal, in the form of macroscopic gravitational waves, in response to spontaneous (not induced) emission of gravitons. Thus recent BICEP2 observations of polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) will, if confirmed, provide firm empirical evidence for the quantization of gravity. Their details also support quantitative ideas concerning the unification of strong, electromagnetic and weak forces, and of all these with gravity.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271814410016
