Testing Quantum Gravity through Dumb Holes

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to experimentally test quantum gravity effects by analyzing thermal fluctuations in dumb holes, which are analogues of black holes, potentially revealing the correct quantum gravity approach.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to test quantum gravity effects through thermal fluctuations in dumb holes, linking them to black hole entropy corrections.

Findings

Logarithmic corrections from thermal fluctuations in dumb holes match quantum gravity predictions.

Potential to experimentally determine the coefficient of entropy corrections.

Method to distinguish between different quantum gravity theories based on dumb hole analysis.

Abstract

We propose a method to test the effects of quantum fluctuations on black holes by analyzing the effects of thermal fluctuations on dumb holes, the analogues for black holes. The proposal is based on the Jacobson formalism, where the Einstein field equations are viewed as thermodynamical relations, and so the quantum fluctuations are generated from the thermal fluctuations. It is well known that all approaches to quantum gravity generate logarithmic corrections to the entropy of a black hole and the coefficient of this term varies according to the different approaches to the quantum gravity. It is possible to demonstrate that such logarithmic terms are also generated from thermal fluctuations in dumb holes. In this paper, we claim that it is possible to experimentally test such corrections for dumb holes, and also obtain the correct coefficient for them. This fact can then be used to predict the effects of quantum fluctuations on realistic black holes, and so it can also be used, in principle, to experimentally test the different approaches to quantum gravity.