The Latest Research Program

Our first experiment, the Holometer, concluded scientific operations in 2020 after a seminal effort spanning more than a decade — featured in the explainers below. We are now working with our collaborators at Cardiff University since 2019 to design a far more powerful instrument using state-of-the-art quantum technology. Commissioning is well underway, so stay tuned for more updates!

QI: Quantum-enhanced Interferometry for new physics

• UK Research and Innovation: Quantum projects launched to solve the universe's mysteries
• UK National Quantum Technologies Programme: Quantum Technologies for Fundamental Physics
• Cardiff University press release on how the QI consortium will lead the search for dark matter and quantum space-time
• Quantum Technology Hub at Birmingham: Exploring the unanswered questions of our universe with quantum technologies

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Recent Quanta Magazine Articles

• New models of quantum space-time are being proposed, building upon the Holometer's original foundational insight and targeting the same experimental regime. Here is a feature covering one such project at Caltech — by Thomas Lewton
• A feature on how the Cardiff and Caltech teams are searching for dark matter and quantum space-time — by Thomas Lewton

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New Lab Opening!

• QUEST for answers to mysteries of universe underway in new Cardiff lab

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The new experiment at Cardiff is funded by the following agencies, institutions, and organizations:

The Holometer: Our first experiment

Hunting the Holographic Universe

Strip the Cosmos — Series 3, Episode 10 (season finale)
Produced by Windfall Films for Discovery Science.  Aired December 24, 2018.

Documentary Official Site

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Scientific American Feature Stories

​February 2012 — Volume 306, Issue 2

• The Quantum Universe: Is Space Digital?​ — by Michael Moyer

September 2015 — Volume 313, Issue 3 (Special Issue: 100 Years of General Relativity)

• Cleaning Up After Einstein: A new generation of physicists hope to succeed where Einstein failed ​— by Corey S. Powell

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BBC Science Focus Cover Story

March 2013 — Issue 252

• The Universe is a Hologram — by Marcus Chown

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Select Talks for General Audiences

• "The Fermilab Holometer: Is the Universe a Hologram?" — Fermilab Ask-a-Scientist public lecture:   [Slides]
  This was delivered at the level of a college freshman interested in science.

• "A History of Reality" — At a transdisciplinary academic retreat hosted by the Samsung Foundation:   [Slides]   [Transcript]
  ​This was delivered for a general science audience, comprised of graduate student scholars supported by the foundation.

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About the Holometer Instrument

• A  short video tour, by Fermilab Visual Media Services:

• Our instrument highlighted in the news and perspectives blog of the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity:

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What is Reality? 

BBC Horizon — Season 47, Episode 9
Aired January 17, 2011

Documentary Official Site

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News Reports on Results from the Holometer

• Fermilab News: Random twists of place: How quiet is quantum space-time at the Planck scale?
• ScienceAlert: A new measurement of quantum space-time has found nothing going on
• Fermilab News: Holometer rules out first theory of space-time correlations
• Symmetry: Holometer rules out first theory of space-time correlations
• Science Magazine: Controversial experiment sees no evidence that the universe is a hologram​​
• Vice Motherboard: Experiment finds no evidence the universe is a hologram (But it still might be)
• Discover: Reality check: The universe is (probably) not a hologram
• Gizmodo: Fermilab experiment finds no evidence that we live in a hologram
• IBT (UK): Universe a hologram? Not according to Fermilab Holometer experiment
• IBT (AU): Scientists release result of world’s first experiment on a 'holographic universe'

Media Coverage of the Holometer Design Concept

• Fermilab News: Do we live in a 2-D hologram?
• ​​​University of Chicago / KICP: Experiment probes nature of space and time
• University of Chicago: Hologram reflection
• Smithsonian Magazine: What is the universe? Real physics has some mind-bending answers
  
• Guardian / Nautilus: Relativity versus quantum mechanics / Will quantum mechanics swallow relativity?
• Symmetry: Searching for the holographic universe
• Symmetry: Now playing: Reality. In 3D
• Symmetry: Hogan's holometer: Testing the hypothesis of a holographic universe
• Wired: Fermilab is finding out if the Universe is flat
• Wired: World's most precise clocks could reveal Universe is a hologram
• New Scientist: Experiment tests whether universe is a hologram
• New Scientist: Our world may be a giant hologram
• Financial Times: Physics: is the world really 3D?
• NBC News: Do we live in a 2-D hologram? Physicists aim to find out
• Daily Beast: Is the Cosmos just a big hologram?
• Newsweek: Government physicists think we may be living in a 2-D hologram
• New Statesman: Particle accelerator experiment begins search for evidence that we live in a hologram
• Vox: Some physicists believe we're living in a giant hologram — and it's not that far-fetched
• Popular Science: Fermilab is building a 'Holometer' to determine once and for all whether reality is just an illusion
• Vice Motherboard: Meet the government researcher trying to prove the universe is a 2D hologram
• Vice Motherboard: There is growing evidence that our universe is a giant hologram
• The Verge: A physics experiment might soon tell us if we're living in a 2D hologram
• CSM: Is the universe a big hologram? This device could find out.
• Huffington Post: Freaky physics experiment may prove our universe is a two-dimensional hologram
• Phys.org: Holometer experiment to test if the universe is a hologram
• Space.com: Is the universe a 2D hologram? Experiment aims to find out

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The Holometer team was funded by the following agencies, institutions, and organizations: