The unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity has long been elusive. Only recently have empirical predictions of various possible theories of quantum gravity been put to test, where a clear signal of quantum properties of gravity is still missing. The dawn of multi-messenger high-energy astrophysics has been tremendously beneficial, as it allows us to study particles with much higher energies and travelling much longer distances than possible in terrestrial experiments, but more progress is needed on several fronts. A thorough appraisal of current strategies and experimental frameworks, regarding quantum gravity phenomenology, is provided here. Our aim is twofold: a description of tentative multimessenger explorations, plus a focus on future detection experiments. As the outlook of the network of researchers that formed through the COST Action CA18108 ‘Quantum gravity phenomenology in the multi-messenger approach (QG-MM)’, in this work we give an overview of the desiderata that future theoretical frameworks, observational facilities, and data-sharing policies should satisfy in order to advance the cause of quantum gravity phenomenology.

Finsler geometry is a well-known generalization of Riemannian geometry which allows us to account for a possibly nontrivial structure of the space of configurations of relativistic particles. Here we establish a link between Finsler geometry and the sorts of models with curved momentum space and doubly special relativistic relativistic symmetries which have been of interest recently in the quantum-gravity literature. We use as a case study the much-studied scenario which is inspired by the $\kappa$-Poincaré quantum group and show that the relevant deformation of relativistic symmetries can be implemented within a Finsler geometry.

We describe the Hamilton geometry of the phase space of particles whose motion is characterized by general dispersion relations. In this framework spacetime and momentum space are naturally curved and intertwined, allowing for a simultaneous description of both spacetime curvature and nontrivial momentum space geometry. We consider as explicit examples two models for Planck-scale modified dispersion relations, inspired from the $q$–de Sitter and $\kappa$-Poincaré quantum groups. In the first case we find the expressions for the momentum and position dependent curvature of spacetime and momentum space, while for the second case the manifold is flat and only the momentum space possesses a nonzero, momentum dependent curvature. In contrast, for a dispersion relation that is induced by a spacetime metric, as in general relativity, the Hamilton geometry yields a flat momentum space and the usual curved spacetime geometry with only position dependent geometric objects.

Light scalar fields can naturally couple disformally to Standard Model fields without giving rise to the unacceptably large fifth forces usually associated with light scalars. We show that these scalar fields can still be studied and constrained through their interaction with photons, and focus particularly on changes to the Cosmic Microwave Background spectral distortions and violations of the distance duality relation. We then specialise our constraints to scalars which could play the role of pseudo-Goldstone quintessence.