The universe is humming and quantum physicist Igor Pikovski is leaning in close to listen. Pikovski, a Stevens professor in the department of physics, received the $514,230 National Science Foundation’s (NSF) CAREER award given annually to leading researchers in the field. With the award, Pikovski will design and develop new methods to examine the intersection between gravity and quantum mechanics, as Einstein’s theory of general relativity is applied to the rudimentary level of matter.
Pikovski’s work within quantum mechanics faces theory and the mathematical possibility of how matter and light on a subatomic level may behave. In dealing with quantum properties, such as light, that display an inherent discreteness down to the photon, physicists have observed a bizarre behavior that does not abide by common grounds of classical physics. Pikovski says, “if you go to very small scales, trying to understand single atoms or single electrons, or you try to understand light, it turns out things are completely different than what we expected from normal laws of physics.”
The dilemma of quantum gravity exemplifies the strangeness that occurs when natural laws of physics interact with quantum properties in which Pikovski’s project proposes a modest goal. Driven by curiosity and exploration, Pikovski’s research is not in the business of solving the problem of quantum gravity, but aims to develop methods of finding experimental evidence that provides residual insight into the holistic understanding of quantum gravity and all of its possibilities. Pikovski compares the goals of the project to opening a Lego box without a construction manual and seeing various pieces splayed out, and then being tasked with testing how each piece fits together. He begins to establish the building blocks by asking how “can we find little experiments, small experiments that give us a little bit of a hint of how quantum mechanics and gravity could meet,” says Pikovski.
The NSF grant diverges into different research directions relating to the detection and glimmers of quantum gravity. An example of experimentation includes Pikovsiki’s previous work in measuring the gravitational waves, ripples in space-time caused by cataclysmic events such as black holes merging, via finely tuned atomic clocks. To modern physicists, the behavior of quantum gravity is unknown and mystifying in which researchers such as Pikovski take a shot into the dark through various approaches of experimentation. “It’s a little bit like finding a needle in the haystack,” says Pikovski, “you don’t even know if there is a needle, or what it looks like, you have to be a bit creative to think about where you should look.”
Gravitational waves serve as a new piece to the puzzle in examining the interface between gravity and time on quantum particle laws; it is not the main focus. The project is based in the roots of quantum mechanics, and testing its effects through simplistic experiments that demonstrate the fundamentals of gravity — from falling atoms to atomic clockwork. Pikovski’s latest work replicates the fundamental exchange between energy and matter, derived from Planck’s constant modeling quantized units of energy, in gravitational waves to demonstrate similar behavior of discrete chunks of energy that are extracted.
Pikovski asks “What is it good for?” What can the physics community and society make of researching a reality defined by its minute effects? Pikovski acknowledges the practical application of quantum theory, but the qualifying question was met with a philosophical curiosity. At its heart, Pikovski’s research is a creative endeavor to find quantum mechanics where it’s least expected. “If you can find it in other places where you don’t expect it, I think there is a rich new side,” he says. The project’s intrinsic curiosity for examining the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity begs for unconventionalism in which he welcomes the perspective of collaborating with Stevens graduate and PhD students. “Students are often much more creative and they see things from fresher eyes,” says Pikovski, “that’s exactly what you need, you just want to question simple things.”
