Quantum gravity and minimum length

In this work it is demonstrated that, provided a theory involves a minimal length, this theory must be free from such infinitesimal quantities as infinitely small variations in surface of the holographic screen, its volume, and entropy. The corresponding infinitesimal quantities in this case must be replaced by the "minimal variations possible" -- finite quantities dependent on the existent energies. As a result, the initial low-energy theory (quantum theory or general relati...

In quantum gravity it is generally thought that a modified commutator of the form $[{\hat x}, {\hat p}] = i \hbar (1 + \beta p^2)$ is sufficient to give rise to a minimum length scale. We test this assumption and find that different pairs of modified operators can lead to the same modified commutator and yet give different or even no minimal length. The conclusion is that the modification of the operators is the main factor in determining whether there is a minimal length. Th...

After picking out what may seem more realistic minimal gravitational deformation of quantum mechanics, we study its back reaction on gravity. The large distance behaviour of Newtonian potential coincides with the result obtained by using of effective field theory approach to general relativity (the correction proves to be of repulsive nature). The short distance corrections result in Planck mass black hole remnants with zero temperature. The deformation of position-momentum u...

The existence of a minimal length scale, a fundamental lower limit on spacetime resolution is motivated by various theories of quantum gravity as well as string theory. Classical calculations involving both quantum theory and general relativity yield the same result. This minimal length scale is naturally of the order of the Planck length, but can be as high as ~TeV^-1 in models with large extra dimensions. We discuss the influence of a minimal scale on the Casimir effect on ...

We address estimation of the minimum length arising from gravitational theories. In particular, we provide bounds on precision and assess the use of quantum probes to enhance the estimation performances. At first, we review the concept of minimum length and show how it induces a perturbative term appearing in the Hamiltonian of any quantum system, which is proportional to a parameter depending on the minimum length. We then systematically study the effects of this perturbatio...

It is commonly accepted that the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity gives rise to the emergence of a minimum uncertainty both in space and time. The arguments that support this conclusion are mainly based on perturbative approaches to the quantization, in which the gravitational interactions of the matter content are described as corrections to a classical background. In a recent paper, we analyzed the existence of a minimum time uncertainty in the framew...

The present work is a continuation of the previous papers written by the author on the subject. In terms of the measurability (or measurable quantities) notion introduced in a minimal length theory, first the consideration is given to a quantum theory in the momentum representation. The same terms are used to consider the Markov gravity model that here illustrates the general approach to studies of gravity in terms of measurable quantities. This paper is dedicated to the 75th...

It is argued that the existence of a minimum size of spacetime may imply the fundamental existence of gravity as a geometric property of spacetime described by general relativity.

The canonical approach to quantizing quantum gravity is understood to suffer from pathological non-renomalizability. Nevertheless in the context of effective field theory, a viable perturbative approach to calculating elementary processes is possible. Some non-perturbative approaches, most notably loop quantum gravity and combinatorial quantum gravity imply the existence of a minimal length. To circumvent the seeming contradiction between the existence of a minimum length and...

The possibility of a minimal physical length in quantum gravity is discussed within the asymptotic safety approach. Using a specific mathematical model for length measurements ("COM microscope") it is shown that the spacetimes of Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) based upon a special class of renormalization group trajectories are "fuzzy" in the sense that there is a minimal coordinate separation below which two points cannot be resolved.