An analog model for quantum lightcone fluctuations in nonlinear optics (Q1947388)

The paper aims to develop a link between the problem of lightcone fluctuations in quantum gravity (even if a consistent theory of the latter does not exist yet) and fluctuations in nonlinear dielectric media in classical optics. The main idea is to use the fact that the speed of light in dielectric media depends on the material density, hence density fluctuations may lead to effective fluctuations of the local lightcone. This similarity is used to emulate the lightcone fluctuations expected as a result of quantum fluctuations of gravity.