Probing the emergent spacetime fabric: from theory to phenomenology

There is a growing debate about the possibility that spacetime is an emergent, large scale concept whose underlying elements are not "quanta of spacetime" per se but more fundamental entities. While this point of view has recently gained momentum in the quantum gravity community, we are still missing a clear understanding of what set of phenomena could be searched for, and which experiments can be developed in order to test this idea against standard "quantum spacetime" scenarios. Most of all we lack a clear derivation of such phenomenology from extant models. We propose here a multilevel attack based on the PI's past experience on quantum gravity phenomenology and condensed matter analogue models of gravity. This approach will be innovative because for the first time it will put together the expertise of people working on specific quantum gravity scenarios with that of scientists actively involved in experiments sensitive to the nature of spacetime at the Planck scale. To achieve this, the project will be active at several levels. First, it will help set up a task force of young researchers focussed on this problem (PI, two complementary postdocs, one advanced fellow and one or two PhD students). Secondly, it will catalyse collaborations and research exchanges by supporting scientific visits. Finally, the conference at the end of the grant will put together gravitation theorists, cosmologists, quantum information researchers and philosophers of science with the aim of discussing the problematics and implications associated to quantum gravity phenomenology from different points of view. The expected output will consist of a series of academic papers (3-4 per year) and proceedings (possibly in a form of a book and/or a website). The enduring impact could be a groundbreaking change in the present attitude towards quantum gravity studies, firmly anchoring this subject in the realm of testable physics theories.