## Planckian signatures in optical harmonic generation and supercontinuum

Many theories of quantum gravity, as string theory, loop quantum gravity, and doubly special relativity, predict the existence of a minimal length scale and outline the need to generalize the uncertainty principle. This generalized uncertainty principle relies on modified commutation relations that – if applied to the second quantization – imply an excess energy of the electromagnetic quanta with respect to ω. Here we show that this “dark energy of the photon” is amplified during nonlinear optical process. Therefore, if one accepts the minimal length scenario, one must expect to observe specific optical frequencies in optical harmonic generation by intense laser fields. Other processes as four-wave mixing and supercontinuum generation may also contain similar spectral features of quantum-gravity. Nonlinear optics may hence be helpful to falsify some of the most investigated approaches to the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity.

C. Conti in arXiv:1805.11716

## Solitons and Black Holes in the Sine-Gordon Equation

The intriguing connection between black holes’evaporation and physics of solitons is opening novel roads to finding observable phenomena. It is known from the inverse scattering transform that velocity is a fundamental parameter in solitons theory. Taking this into account, the study of Hawking radiation by a moving soliton gets a growing relevance. However, a theoretical context for the description of this phenomenon is still lacking. Here, we adopt a soliton geometrization technique to study the quantum emission of a moving soliton in a one-dimensional model. Representing a black hole by the one soliton solution of the Sine-Gordon equation, we consider Hawking emission spectra of a quantized massless scalarfield on the soliton-induced metric. We study the relation between the soliton velocity and the black hole temperature. Our results address a new scenario in the detection of new physics in the quantum gravity panorama.

L. Villari, G. Marcucci, M.C. Braidotti and C. Conti, J. Phys. Comm. 2 (2018) 005016

## Quantum-gravity-slingshot: orbital precession due to the modified uncertainty principle, from analogs to tests of Planckian physics with quantum fluids

Modified uncertainty principle and non-commutative variables may phenomenologically account for quantum gravity effects, independently of the considered theory of quantum gravity. We show that quantum fluids enable experimental analogs and direct tests of the modified uncertainty principle expected to be valid at the Planck scale. We consider a quantum clock realized by a long-lasting quantum fluid wave-packet orbiting in a trapping potential. We investigate the hydrodynamics of the Schr\”odinger equation encompassing kinetic terms due to Planck-scale effects. We study the resulting generalized mechanics and validate the predictions by quantum simulations. Wave-packet orbiting generates a continuous amplification of the quantum gravity effects. The non-commutative variables in the phase-space produce a precession and an acceleration of the orbital motion. The precession of the orbit is strongly resembling the famous orbital precession of the perihelion of Mercury used by Einstein to validate the corrections of general relativity to Newton’s theory. In our case, the corrections are due to the modified uncertainty principle. The results can be employed to emulate quantum gravity in the laboratory, or to realize human-scale experiments to determine bounds for the most studied quantum-gravity models and probe Planckian physics.

Giulia Marcucci and Claudio Conti, arXiv:1805.03600

## Lasing on nonlinear localized waves in curved geometry

The use of geometrical constraints exposes many new perspectives in photonics and in fundamental studies of nonlinear waves. By implementing surface structures in vertical cavity surface emitting lasers as manifolds for curved space, we experimentally study the impacts of geometrical constraints on nonlinear wave localization. We observe localized waves pinned to the maximal curvature in an elliptical-ring, and confirm the reduction in the localization length of waves by measuring near and far field patterns, as well as the corresponding energy-angle dispersion relation. Theoretically, analyses based on a dissipative model with a parabola curve give good agreement remarkably to experimental measurement on the reduction in the localization length. The introduction of curved geometry allows to control and design lasing modes in the nonlinear regime.

Kou-Bin Hong, Chun-Yan Lin, Tsu-Chi Chang, Wei-Hsuan Liang, Ying-Yu Lai, Chien-Ming Wu, You-Lin Chuang, Tien-Chang Lu, Claudio Conti, and Ray-Kuang Lee in Optics Express 25, 29068 (2017)

## Quantum Simulation of Rainbow Gravity

Rainbow gravity modifies general relativity by introducing an energy dependent metric, which is expected to have a role in the quantum theory of black holes and in quantum gravity at Planck energy scale. We show that rainbow gravity can be simulated in the laboratory by nonlinear waves in nonlocal media, as those occurring in Bose-condensed gases and nonlinear optics. We reveal that at a classical level, a nonlocal nonlinear Schr\”odinger equation may emulate the curved space time in proximity of a rotating black hole as dictated by the rainbow gravity scenario. We also demonstrate that a fully quantized analysis is possible. By the positive $\mathcal{P}$-representation, we study superradiance and show that the instability of a black-hole and the existence of an event horizon are inhibited by an energy dependent metric. Our results open the way to a number of fascinating experimental tests of quantum gravity theories and quantum field theory in curved manifolds, and also demonstrate that these theories may be novel tools for open problems in nonlinear quantum physics.

The picture below shows spectra and configuration of particles trapped in a quantum simulation of a black-hole.

Braidotti and Conti, in ArXiv:1708.02623