A testable description of space-time foam as a fundamental stochastic gravity-wave background

Abstract

I develop a phenomenological approach to the description of the noise levels that the space-time foam of quantum gravity could induce in modern gravity-wave detectors. Various possibilities are considered, including white noise and random-walk noise. In particular, I find that the sensitivity level expected for the planned LIGO and VIRGO interferometers and for the next upgrade of the NAUTILUS resonant-bar detector corresponds to a white-noise level which can be naturally associated with the Planck length.