Some neat tricks with gravity could finally probe how it affects the quantum realm and allow us to devise a theory of everything, says Michael Brooks
THE quantum realm has always seemed worlds apart from general relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity. One rules at the atomic scale and smaller; the other reigns supreme across the cosmos. This is one reason why physicists are wrestling in their efforts to meld quantum theory and relativity into a theory of everything that shows how the universe works at a fundamental level.
So far, all the attention has focused on schemes that come into play under the high-energy conditions that existed just after the big bang. The trouble is, experimenting with such theories is incredibly difficult. "The tests for it are way off," says Roger Penrose at the University of Oxford. "You have to build an accelerator the size of the solar system ...
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