2002/10/11 by Steinn Sigurdsson, STEINN SIGURDSSON
Physics and Astronomy · #Acceleration #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Extra dimensions #Gravitation #Gravitational acceleration #Gravitational wave #Matter wave #Order (exchange) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Speed of gravity #Transverse plane #astro-ph #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1142/s0218271802002864
published in International Journal of Modern Physics D 11(10), 1541-1544 (World Scientific) · 2 pages, double column, revtex, no figures Int J. Mod Phys D. (Special issue of GRF essays 2002). Int. J. Mod. Phys. D. in press
arxiv created 2002/10/11 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Recent conjectures that there are mesoscopically "large" extra dimensions, through which gravity propagates have interesting implications for much of physics. The scenario implies gross departures from Newton's law of gravity at small length scales. Testing departures from Coulomb's law on sub-millimetre scales is hard. It is now possible to routinely create Bose–Einstein condensates with de Broglie wavelengths of order a μm and total size of order 10 μm. BEC condensates move coherently under gravitational acceleration, and I propose that the transverse fringe shift due to the acceleration of a pair of interfering BECs passing a dense linear mass may be measurable, and provide direct evidence for anomalous gravitational acceleration. Ideally such experiments are best carried out in free fall to maximise the time spent by a BEC in the non-Newtonian regime.