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At What Point Does Spacetime Become Quantum?

2025-09-18 Education
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PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time
3.5m subscribers

Probing Quantum Gravity by Merging Quantum and Classical Scales in the Lab

Discover how physicists are using lab-bench experiments, bridging the quantum and classical worlds at the mesoscale, to test the fundamental nature of gravity and spacetime itself.

Short Summary

  • Perform Cavendish-style experiments with micro-masses to test gravity’s laws at ultra-short distances.
  • Observe quantum entanglement in genuinely macroscopic systems, like the mirrors of the LIGO observatory.
  • Decoherence quantifies how the familiar classical world emerges from underlying quantum mechanics.
  • These experiments aim to detect gravitationally mediated entanglement, which would confirm gravity is fundamentally quantum.

This discussion explores intermediate "mesos scale" physics where classical and quantum rules overlap. By either weakening gravity signals relative to other forces or strengthening quantum signals to macroscopic levels, researchers hope to find the limits of known physics without needing a solar system-sized particle collider.

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Description

Learn More About Anydesk: https://anydesk.com/spacetime To observe the quantum nature of gravity and of spacetime itself, we need a particle collider the size of the solar system. Or we could just physics smarter and build one on a lab bench. Here’s how. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Chistopher Pollack, Boris Ragula, & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2025 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Alexander Tamas Juan Benet Mark Rosenthal Morgan Hough Peter Barrett Tj Steyn Vinnie Falco Supernova Ethan Cohen Glenn Sugden Grace Biaelcki Mark Heising Stephen Wilcox Tristan Lucian Claudius Aurelius Tyacke Hypernova Alex Kern Ben Delo Cal Stephens chuck zegar David Giltinan Dean Galvin Donal Botkin Gregory Forfa Jesse Cid Dyer John R. Slavik Justin Lloyd Kenneth See Massimiliano Pala Michael Tidwell Mike Purvis Paul Stehr-Green Scott Gorlick Scott Gray Spencer Jones Stephen Saslow Stephen Spidle Thomas Mouton Zachary Haberman Антон Кочков Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Alex Gan Aaron Pinto Adrien Molyneux Almog Cohen Anthony Leon Arko Provo Mukherjee Ayden Miller Ben McIntosh Bradley Jenkins Bradley Ulis Brandon Lattin Brian Cook Bryan White Christopher Wade Chuck Lukaszewski Collin Dutrow Craig Falls Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Donahue Daniel Jennings Daron Woods Darrell Stewart David Johnston Diana S Poljar Doyle Vann Eric Kiebler Eric Raschke Faraz Khan Frederic Simon Harsh Khandhadia Ian Williams Isaac Suttell James Trimmier Jeb Campbell Jeremy Soller Jerry Thomas jim bartosh John Anderson John De Witt John Funai John H. Austin, Jr. Joseph Salomone Junaid Ali Justin Waters Kacper Cieśla Kane Holbrook Keith Pasko Kent Durham Koen Wilde Kurt Gottselig Lori Ferris Marcelo Garcia Marion Lang Mark Daniel Cohen Mark Delagasse Matt Quinn Matthew Johnson Michael Barton Michael Clark Michael Lev Michael Purcell Nathaniel Bennett Nick Hoffenstoffer III Nicolas Katsantonis Param Saxena Paul Wood Rad Antonov Reuben Brewer Richard Steenbergen Robert DeChellis Ross Story Russell Moore Sandhya Devi Satwik Pani Sean Owen Shane Calimlim SilentGnome Sound Reason Steffen Bendel Steven Giallourakis Terje Vold Thomas Dougherty Todd J Lerner Tomaz Lovsin Tybie Fitzhugh Vlad Shipulin WILLIAM HAY III Zac Sweers

Top Comments (10)

@LDSG_A_Team 2025-09-18

There will never be enough PBS Spacetime videos. I love this channel

1.0k 29 replies
@pbsspacetime 2025-09-18

Thanks for you support Space Timers! Be sure to like and comment to help share this video. If you want more of Matt talking about physics once you've watched this video, we had a great talk with Dr. Don Lincoln about the biggest unanswered questions, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/16LFXIJmQU8 and Matt had a great talk on the Cool Worlds Podcast here: https://youtu.be/V7QjrsadlKQ?list=PL-Wt6HxX56LHTLNfX18pKEHfCXXwbbmVW

705 58 replies
@DanteGabriel-lx9bq 2025-09-19

We gotta make sure that these information channels don't get taken down. We need PBS!

684 37 replies
@deadlyshizzno 2025-09-26

Oh algorithm lords keep this channel alive please and thank you

515 37 replies
@slash196 2025-09-18

Youtube better not be hiding my spacetime

376 11 replies
@CrazeXD 2025-09-29

DO NOT let this channel die

204 9 replies
@penn43 2025-09-18

thank you pbs spacetiming for keeping real science alive

90
@dean_clark_band 2025-11-06

Hey algorithm— don’t hide episodes! This is one of the best shows on YouTube along with star talk.

69 1 replies
@markswitzer2769 2025-12-20

The algorithm sometimes fails, this channel doesn't.

23
@miguelangelmartinmanibardo917 2026-02-17

Thanks a lot to all the people of PBS Space Time. ¡Muchas gracias por vuestra claridad y elocuencia!

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