Abstract:

The detection of single gravitons (a quantum of gravity, like the photon for electromagnetism) is commonly told to be a near impossible task, but to what extent is this true? In this talk, I will discuss how a gravitational version of the historic photo-electric effect can be implemented with modified gravitational wave detectors, such an experiment would correspond to a single graviton detection process, and in analogy with the photo-electric effect for photons, provide the first evidence of the existence of the graviton.