title: Constraining the energy-momentum dispersion relation with Planck-scale sensitivity using cold atoms.
abstract: We use the results of ultraprecise cold-atom-recoil experiments to constrain the form of the energy-momentum dispersion relation, a structure that is expected to be modified in several quantum-gravity approaches. Our strategy of analysis applies to the nonrelativistic (small speeds) limit of the dispersion relation, and is therefore complementary to an analogous ongoing effort of investigation of the dispersion relation in the ultrarelativistic regime using observations in astrophysics. For the leading correction in the nonrelativistic limit the exceptional sensitivity of cold-atom-recoil experiments remarkably allows us to set a limit within a single order of magnitude of the desired Planck-scale level, thereby providing the first example of Planck-scale sensitivity in the study of the dispersion relation in controlled laboratory experiments.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma La Sapienza and Sezione Roma1 INFN, Piazzale Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amelino-Camelia
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lämmerzahl
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Laemmerzahl
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mercati
authors.forename: Guglielmo M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Tino