Am I right in thinking that if this connection is confirmed then it'll bring us a step closer in bringing Quantum Mechanics and General Relatively closer together?
After all, vacuum energy/zero point energy/ZPE is a quantum phenomenon, albeit not that well understood.
From a physics POV, perhaps. Unfortunately, and I wish I could find the great illustration of this I stumbled across a few years ago, the two theories, QM and GR, are also separated by a mathematical gulf: the dominant maths used in each are so far apart on math’s “evolutionary tree”, if you will, that it will take considerable work to bring them together, even with alignment of the underlying physics.
The mental image I have, based on that lost but amazing illustration, is the difference between mammals and birds: sure, they’re both warm blooded, largely social bilaterally symmetrical vertebrates, but they’re awfully far apart.
I understand your point and your analogy of mammals and birds and the mathematical gulf, it's a good one. Damn shame you've lost reference to that illustration, I'd love to see it.
Embedded in my comment was the thought that if the empirical evidence for this observation was overwhelming then this tight and specific coupling between QM and GR would be so embarrassing that mathematicians would have no option but to significantly up the ante (and also this new evidence may bring a fresh approach).
We've seen this leapfrogging between math and physics many times before, Newton/calculus, Hamilton/quaternions, Galois/group theory, etc.
Wishful thinking perhaps, but the standoff/gulf has to collapse eventually. It'd be nice if this observation was the impetus.
After all, vacuum energy/zero point energy/ZPE is a quantum phenomenon, albeit not that well understood.