Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste,
via delle Scienze, 208 - I-33100 Udine, Italy
Abstract:
Quantum Gravity is quite elusive at the experimental level; thus
a lot of interest has been raised by recent searches for quantum
gravity effects in the propagation of light from distant sources, like
gamma ray bursters and active galactic nuclei, and also in
earth-based interferometers, like those used for gravitational wave
detection. Here we propose a simple heuristic picture of the quantum
fluctuations of the gravitational field and use it to set up a
mathematical framework to estimate quantum gravity effects in
interferometers. We also discuss some other developments suggested by
this heuristics.