A glimpse into the magical world of quantum gravity

Abstract

In this essay it is proved that, in a self-consistent semiclassical theory of gravity, the asymptotically measured orbital periods of test particles around central compact objects are fundamentally bounded from below by the compact universal relation $T_{\infty}\geq{{2\pi e\hbar}\over{\sqrt{G}c^2 m^2_{e}}}$ [here $\{m_e,e\}$ are respectively the proper mass and the electric charge of the electron, the lightest charged particle]. The explicit dependence of the lower bound on the fundamental constants $\{G,c,\hbar\}$ of gravity, special relativity, and quantum theory suggests that it provides a rare glimpse into the yet unknown quantum theory of gravity.