2004/10/08 by Sabine Hossenfelder
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1142/s0217732304015919
published as Mod.Phys.Lett. A19 (2004) 2727-2744 · 18 pages, 5 figures, brief review to appear in Mod. Phys. Let. A
arxiv created 2004/10/08 · openalex publication_date 2004/11/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Planck scale physics represents a future challenge, located between particle physics and general relativity. The Planck scale marks a threshold beyond which the old description of spacetime breaks down and conceptually new phenomena must appear. Little is known about the fundamental theory valid at Planckian energies, except that it necessarily seems to imply the occurrence of a minimal length scale, providing a natural ultraviolet cutoff and a limit to the possible resolution of spacetime. Motivated by String Theory, the models of large extra dimensions lower the Planck scale to values soon accessible. These models predict a vast number of quantum gravity effects at the lowered Planck scale, among them the production of TeV-mass black holes and gravitons. Within the extra dimensional scenario, the minimal length also comes into the reach of experiment and sets a fundamental limit to short distance physics. We review the status of Planck scale physics in these effective models.