title: Testing Quantum Gravity Induced Nonlocality via Optomechanical Quantum Oscillators.
abstract: Several quantum gravity scenarios lead to physics below the Planck scale characterized by nonlocal, Lorentz invariant equations of motion. We show that such nonlocal effective field theories lead to a modified Schrödinger evolution in the nonrelativistic limit. In particular, the nonlocal evolution of optomechanical quantum oscillators is characterized by a spontaneous periodic squeezing that cannot be generated by environmental effects. We discuss constraints on the nonlocality obtained by past experiments, and show how future experiments (already under construction) will either see such effects or otherwise cast severe bounds on the nonlocality scale (well beyond the current limits set by the Large Hadron Collider). This paves the way for table top, high precision experiments on massive quantum objects as a promising new avenue for testing some quantum gravity phenomenology.
authors.affiliation: SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, Trieste I-34136, Italy and INFN, Sez. di Trieste, Via Velerio 2, Trieste 34127 Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belenchia
authors.affiliation: SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, Trieste I-34136, Italy and INFN, Sez. di Trieste, Via Velerio 2, Trieste 34127 Italy.
authors.forename: Dionigi M T
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Benincasa
authors.affiliation: SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, Trieste I-34136, Italy and INFN, Sez. di Trieste, Via Velerio 2, Trieste 34127 Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liberati
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, University of Florence and INFN, Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone, 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy.|European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Via Carrara 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.affiliation: CNR-Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, I-50125 Firenze, Italy and INFN, Sez. di Firenze.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.affiliation: INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Viale dell'Università, 2, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortolan