Hubble Meets Planck: A Cosmic Peek at Quantum Foam

Abstract

If spacetime undergoes quantum fluctuations, an electromagnetic wavefront will acquire uncertainties in direction as well as phase as it propagates through spacetime. These uncertainties can show up in interferometric observations of distant quasars as a decreased fringe visibility. The Very Large Telescope and Keck interferometers may be on the verge of probing spacetime fluctuations which, we also argue, have repercussions for cosmology, requiring the existence of dark energy/matter, the critical cosmic energy density, and accelerating cosmic expansion in the present era.