Abstract: The quantization of gravity is widely believed to result in
gravitons -- particles of discrete energy that form gravitational waves.
But their detection has so far been considered impossible. Here we show
that signatures of single gravitons can be observed in laboratory
experiments. We show that stimulated and spontaneous single-graviton
processes can become relevant for massive quantum acoustic resonators
and that stimulated absorption can be resolved through continuous
sensing of quantum jumps. We analyze the feasibility of observing the
exchange of single energy quanta between matter and gravitational waves.
Our results show that single graviton signatures are within reach of
experiments. In analogy to the discovery of the photo-electric effect
for photons, such signatures can provide the first experimental evidence
of the quantization of gravity.
Reference: Tobar, Germain, Sreenath K. Manikandan, Thomas Beitel, and
Igor Pikovski. "Detecting single gravitons with quantum sensing." arXiv
preprint arXiv:2308.15440 (2023).