In this paper we propose and analyze a framework for simulating internal gravitational dynamics within quantum materials. By engineering many‑body interactions in a condensed‑matter setting we are able to generate an effective metric tensor g_{\mu\nu}^{eff} that couples to quasiparticle excitations in a manner analogous to general relativity. The central novelty lies in the fact that the simulated gravity is not an external background field but rather a self‑consistent emergent phenomenon arising from the collective behavior of the underlying electrons and phonons. We develop a field‑theoretic description of the emergent metric, construct a concrete model using a lattice of interacting fermions with tunable hopping amplitudes, and derive the effective action governing the quasiparticles. Numerical simulations demonstrate the appearance of curvature‑induced energy shifts and mode mixing that mirror gravitational red‑shift and lensing effects. The results suggest that quantum materials can serve as tabletop laboratories for probing the interplay between matter and spacetime, potentially offering new insights into the unification of quantum theory and gravitation.
In this paper we propose and analyze a framework for simulating internal gravitational dynamics within quantum materials. By engineering many‑body interactions in a condensed‑matter setting we are able to generate an effective metric tensor g_{\mu\nu}^{eff} that couples to quasiparticle excitations in a manner analogous to general relativity. The central novelty lies in the fact that the simulated gravity is not an external background field but rather a self‑consistent emergent phenomenon arising from the collective behavior of the underlying electrons and phonons. We develop a field‑theoretic description of the emergent metric, construct a concrete model using a lattice of interacting fermions with tunable hopping amplitudes, and derive the effective action governing the quasiparticles. Numerical simulations demonstrate the appearance of curvature‑induced energy shifts and mode mixing that mirror gravitational red‑shift and lensing effects. The results suggest that quantum materials can serve as tabletop laboratories for probing the interplay between matter and spacetime, potentially offering new insights into the unification of quantum theory and gravitation.
In this work we propose that some strongly correlated quantum materials can spontaneously generate an effective geometrical structure described by a metric tensor g_{μν}^{eff}. Unlike engineered metamaterials or external spacetime analogues, this emergent geometry arises intrinsically from the many‑body quantum state. We develop a theoretical framework that connects the low‑energy effective action of fermionic quasiparticles to a curved‑space Dirac equation, with curvature determined self‑consistently by the electronic density and interaction parameters. The resulting geometry influences transport, optical, and topological properties, suggesting a novel platform for exploring quantum gravity concepts in table‑top experiments.
In many-body quantum systems, especially those with strong electronic correlations, the collective behavior of quasiparticles can give rise to emergent gauge degrees of freedom that are not imposed externally but generated intrinsically by the dynamics of the system. This paper proposes a unified theoretical framework for describing such self-generated gauge fields, here denoted as Aμeff, that arise naturally in quantum matter. We formulate the conditions under which the internal degrees of freedom of a material can spontaneously form a gauge structure, and we derive the effective action for the emergent gauge field in terms of the microscopic variables. The formalism is applied to a variety of strongly correlated systems, including spin liquids, fractional quantum Hall states, and high-temperature superconductors, illustrating how Aμeff modifies the low-energy excitations and leads to novel observable phenomena. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of these emergent interactions to serve as platforms for discovering new artificial fundamental forces, thereby opening a route toward Nobel Prize–level physics.
In many-body quantum systems the collective behavior of electrons can give rise to emergent phenomena that are not apparent from the underlying microscopic Hamiltonian. A particularly intriguing possibility is that the internal dynamics of a material can spontaneously generate a gauge potential A_mu^eff that couples to the electronic degrees of freedom in a manner formally identical to a conventional electromagnetic gauge field. This paper develops a theoretical framework for such self-generated gauge fields (SGGF) in quantum matter. Starting from a generic Hubbard-type model with long-range interactions, we derive an effective action for the fermions after integrating out high-energy modes. The resulting low-energy theory contains a covariant derivative D_mu = partial_mu - i A_mu^eff, where A_mu^eff emerges from the collective spin and charge fluctuations. We analyze the symmetry properties of the emergent field, show that it can acquire a mass gap or remain gapless depending on the underlying lattice geometry and interaction strength, and discuss the conditions under which it leads to novel topological responses. In particular, we identify a mechanism by which a chiral spin liquid state induces a Chern–Simons term for A_mu^eff, thereby realizing a fractional quantum Hall response without external magnetic fields. The possibility of realizing SGGF in cold atom simulators and in twisted bilayer graphene is highlighted. We conclude that the discovery of self-generated gauge fields opens a new avenue for engineering artificial fundamental interactions in solid-state platforms and for probing the interplay between topology and strong correlations.
One of the major challenges of modern foundational physics is the combination of quantum physics and general relativity into a theory of quantum gravity. A severe obstacle are the required extremely high energy scales for direct tests of quantum gravity effects. In recent years, attention has shifted towards near-future experimental predictions of effective or phenomenological models, such as gravitationally induced entanglement or interactions of linearized gravity with non-relativistic measurement devices. These developments motivate us to study the coupling between the quantized metric perturbation and an anisotropic quantum rigid rotor. The intuitive motivation for our study is that a sufficiently heavy rotor consists of a very large number of component systems. Although quantum gravitational effects are completely negligible at the scale of a single atom or molecule, the effects can get amplified by the sheer number of constituents. The resulting effective model describes the gravitational analogue of the angulon quasiparticle excitations discussed in condensed matter physics, suggesting a pathway for future analogue experiments. As a first concrete test of our model, we derive the gravitational Lamb shift for the energy eigenstates of the rotor, which become dressed by a cloud of virtual gravitons. Although the effect is very small, it could provide a concrete test for whether gravity is truly quantum.
This thesis investigates the role of gravitational waves in quantum systems, motivated by advances in our understanding of the quantum–gravity interface and efforts to identify experimental signatures of quantum gravity. It focuses on gravitational decoherence and the interplay between internal energy and centre-of-mass dynamics in composite quantum systems, complemented by a study of internal-energy effects in gravitationally mediated entanglement. First, we develop relativistic Hamiltonian formulations showing that changes in a composite system’s internal energy increase its gravitational mass rather than alter its momentum. This removes earlier ad hoc arguments for eliminating “anomalous friction forces”. We show that gravitational waves act as a dynamical background, inducing curvature-dependent forces that modify total momentum. Second, we revisit a thought experiment in which tensions between causality and complementarity arise. We identify a scenario in which these tensions follow from energy–mass equivalence, making the effect specific to gravitational interactions. In a gravitationally mediated entanglement experiment using Newtonian gravity as mediator, we investigate whether decohering gravitational radiation can resolve the apparent conflict. Finally, we build upon a model of gravitational decoherence consistent with general relativity. This requires deriving a higher-derivative quantum Langevin equation and master equation. The resulting dynamics show that gravitational interactions induce decoherence in the canonical momentum basis of the quadrupole and generate acceleration- and jerk-dependent corrections absent in electrodynamics. Together, these results show that weak-field gravitational interactions leave distinct relativistic imprints on quantum systems, including effects unique to gravitational waves, providing potential signatures that distinguish gravity from other interactions.
Can propagating gravitational waves serve as operational probes of the quantum nature of gravity? We address this question by developing a unified theoretical framework that combines spacetime geometry, quantum information, and gravitational-wave physics. Starting from the geodesic deviation equation in linearized General Relativity, we derive the effective detector Hamiltonian directly from spacetime geometry and construct the complete quantum dynamics for detector subsystems interacting with both classical and quantized propagating gravitational-wave fields. This unified formulation enables a direct comparison between classical and quantum descriptions of gravitational radiation within the same physical framework. We demonstrate that classical gravitational-wave backgrounds can induce mixedness in the detector state but cannot generate genuine quantum correlations between the detector subsystems. In contrast, quantized gravitational waves coherently mediate gravity-induced entanglement, quantum coherence, quantum memory, and nonclassical correlations, providing clear operational signatures of the quantum nature of propagating gravitational radiation. We further discuss how mesoscopic quantum mechanical oscillators offer a promising route towards experimentally probing these effects. Our results establish a geometric and quantum-information-based framework for exploring quantum gravity through propagating gravitational waves.