1. Short-range test of the universality of gravitational constant $G$ at the millimeter scale using a digital image sensor
- Author
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Tomomi Sakuta, R. Tanuma, Hironori Nishio, R. Kishi, K. Ninomiya, Ryosuke Tsutsui, Y. Ikeda, S. Inaba, Haruna Murakami, Takashi Akiyama, J. Murata, K. Watanabe, N. Ogawa, M. Hata, Saki Tanaka, Y. Totsuka, Y. Nakaya, T. Iguri, Hirokazu Kawamura, J. Onishi, Mirei Hatori, and Shuntaro Saiba
- Subjects
Physics ,Exchange force ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Yukawa potential ,FOS: Physical sciences ,General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) ,01 natural sciences ,Torsion spring ,General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology ,Computational physics ,Gravitational constant ,0103 physical sciences ,Attractor ,Millimeter ,Dilaton ,010306 general physics ,Position sensor - Abstract
The composition dependence of gravitational constant $G$ is measured at the millimeter scale to test the weak equivalence principle, which may be violated at short range through new Yukawa interactions such as the dilaton exchange force. A torsion balance on a turning table with two identical tungsten targets surrounded by two different attractor materials (copper and aluminum) is used to measure gravitational torque by means of digital measurements of a position sensor. Values of the ratios $\tilde{G}_{Al-W}/\tilde{G}_{Cu-W} -1$ and $\tilde{G}_{Cu-W}/G_{N} -1$ were $(0.9 \pm 1.1_{\mathrm{sta}} \pm 4.8_{\mathrm{sys}}) \times 10^{-2}$ and $ (0.2 \pm 0.9_{\mathrm{sta}} \pm 2.1_{\mathrm{sys}}) \times 10^{-2}$ , respectively; these were obtained at a center to center separation of 1.7 cm and surface to surface separation of 4.5 mm between target and attractor, which is consistent with the universality of $G$. A weak equivalence principle (WEP) violation parameter of $\eta_{Al-Cu}(r\sim 1\: \mathrm{cm})=(0.9 \pm 1.1_{\mathrm{sta}} \pm 4.9_{\mathrm{sys}}) \times 10^{-2} $ at the shortest range of around 1 cm was also obtained., Comment: submitted to Class. Quantum Grav
- Published
- 2017