Detecting single gravitons with quantum sensing

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to detect single gravitons using quantum acoustic resonators, suggesting that laboratory experiments could observe signatures of quantum gravity, providing potential evidence for graviton quantization.

Contribution

It introduces a feasible experimental approach to observe single graviton exchange, a long-standing challenge in quantum gravity research.

Findings

Single graviton exchange signatures can be observed in laboratory settings.

Quantum acoustic resonators can detect stimulated and spontaneous graviton processes.

Experimental detection of gravitons could confirm the quantization of gravity.

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 graviton exchange 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 clue of the quantization of gravity.