A team of physicists at Stockholm University has put forward a groundbreaking proposal: a method to detect single gravitons. Interestingly, “these elusive particles were assumed to be too hard to observe” until now.
For context, gravitons are theoretical particles believed to be the building blocks of gravity. Scientists have long been striving to bridge the gap between gravity and quantum mechanics.
“If we believe in quantum theory, even gravity must be made of tiny, quantized particles – gravitons,” says the researchers.
But “single gravitons barely interact with anything at all. They pass nearly all matter as they cross the universe. Detecting them seemed impossible,” the researchers added in a press release.
Now, the research team, led by Stevens physics professor Igor Pikovski, has “worked out how to build a single-graviton-detector” that could enable the detection of gravitons.
Their method leverages the recent progress in the field of quantum sensing and the study of macroscopic quantum objects.
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