LIGO Seminar

The Fermilab Holometer, comprised of two co-located but independent
and isolated 40-meter interferometers, is obtaining the first
measurements of non-local correlations of position variations over an
extended volume of space-time with a strain noise power spectral
density smaller than a Planck time. These measurements directly test
one class of models of quantum geometry, which predict an observable
decoherence at this scale as the consequence of a lower-dimensional
limit on geometrical position information. The two interferometer
readout signals, each sensitive to 10-14 m displacements in
differential position over 40 m, are sampled at 50 MHz and
cross-correlated. Quantum-geometrical effects appear as correlations
of the position displacements on time scales shorter than 130 ns, the
40-meter light crossing time, or at frequencies below 7.5 MHz. The
Holometer in current and future configurations will provide precision
tests of a wide class of models of quantum geometry at the Planck
scale, beyond those already constrained by currently operating
gravitational wave observatories. In this talk, I will present the
constraints on quantum geometry obtained by the Holometer to date, as
well as ongoing efforts to develop a new experimental test.

We plan to broadcast these talks using TeamSpeak. Use a sub-channel of LIGO Lab called "LIGO Seminar," which is not password protected.

NOTE: These and all other scheduled LIGO seminars are listed on the LIGO Laboratory seminar calendar for convenient reference.