Analogue models of and for gravity

Abstract

Condensed matter systems, such as acoustics in flowing fluids, light in moving dielectrics, or quasiparticles in a moving superfluid, can be used to mimic aspects of general relativity. More precisely these systems (and others) provide experimentally accessible models of curved-space quantum field theory. As such they mimic kinematic aspects of general relativity, though typically they do not mimic the *dynamics*. Although these analogue models are thereby limited in their ability to duplicate all the effects of Einstein gravity they nevertheless are extremely important -- they provide black hole analogues (some of which have already been seen experimentally) and lead to tests of basic principles of curved-space quantum field theory. Currently these tests are still in the realm of *gedanken-experiments*, but there are plausible candidate models that should lead to laboratory experiments in the not too distant future.

Plain LaTeX2E; 20 page mini-survey; one eps figure. Plenary talk at the Australasian Relativity Conference (Perth, July 2001). Proceedings to appear in ``General Relativity and Gravitation''