Tests of the gravitational inverse-square law at the dark-energy length scale
2006
Thursday 24 August 2006
from 15:15
to 16:00
Speaker :
Eric Adelberger (University of Washington)
Abstract :
It is remarkable that small-scale experiments can address important open
issues in fundamental science such as: "why is gravity so weak?", "why is
the cosmological constant so small?" String theory ideas and other notions
hint that Newton's Inverse-Square Law could break down at distances less
than 1 mm. Furthermore, the observed dark energy density corresponds to a
length scale of 85 microns that may have fundamental significance. I will
review some motivations for testing the Inverse-Square Law, and discuss
recent experiments with torsion balances, small oscillators and
micro-cantilevers.
