The Search for Non-Newtonian Gravity (1999).pdf

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The Search for Non-Newtonian Gravity
Ephraim Fischbach
Carrick L. Talmadge
The Search for
Non-Newtonian Gravity
With 58 Illustrations
AlP
ffi.~
Springer
Ephraim Fischbach
Carrick L. Talmadge
Department of Physics
Purdue University
1396 Physics Building
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1396
USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fischbach, Ephraim.
The search for non-Newtonian gravity
I
Ephraim Fischbach, Carrick
L.
Talmadge
p.
cm.
lncludes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4612-7144-4
ISBN 978-1-4612-1438-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-1438-0
1.
Gravitation.
I.
Talmadge, Carrick
L.
II. Title.
QC178.F53 1998
98-13181
531'. 14-dc21
Printed on acid-free paper.
©
1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. in 1999
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1999
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without
the written permission ofthe publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC), except for
brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any
form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by
similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication,
even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names,
as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used
freely by anyone.
Production managed by Timothy Taylor; manufacturing supervised by Jeffrey Taub.
Camera-ready copy prepared from the authors'
D.'IEX
fIles.
987654321
ISBN 978-1-4612-7144-4
SPIN 10670124
To Janie and Nita for their unending
patience and good humor.
Preface
The past several years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in ex-
perimental tests of gravity, particularly in the possibility of deviations from
the predictions of classical (Newtonian) gravity. This interest was stim-
ulated on the theoretical side by the work of a number of authors who
demonstrated that various models suggested the existence of new, relatively
weak, intermediate-range forces coexisting with gravity. The resulting net
interaction would behave like a modified form of Newtonian gravity whose
characteristic signature could include possible deviations from the expected
inverse-square law, and a possible violation of the weak equivalence principle
(WEP).
These ideas provided part of the stimulus for experimental studies un-
dertaken in the 1970's and 1980's to search for deviations from the inverse-
square law. The experimental efforts, which are described in detail in the
text, eventually led in 1986 to a reanalysis of the classic Eotvos experiment,
which had been designed to compare the accelerations of different pairs of
materials to the Earth. It was observed that the Eotvos results suggested
that all objects do not necessarily fall at the same rate and, additionally,
could be interpreted as hinting at the presence of a new intermediate-range
(or "macroscopic") force. The indication in the Eotvos data of an apparent
violation of the Weak Equivalence Principle, and the concomitant suggestion
of a possible new "fifth force" in nature, encouraged a large number of groups
to undertake new tests of both the inverse-square law and WEP.
To date, after more than a decade of experiments, there is no compelling
evidence for any deviations from the predictions of Newtonian gravity, or for
the presence of a "fifth force." Nonetheless these experiments, which use a va-
riety of imaginative technologies, are likely to continue for the simple reason
that most are far from their ultimate limits of sensitivity. Ironically, during
the very period when experimentalists were failing to find any evidence for
new macroscopic forces, theorists were busy formulating numerous models in
which such forces arose naturally.
It
thus appears that there will be contin-
uing interest in the possibility of new macroscopic forces in the foreseeable
future, and hence in tests of Newtonian gravity.
The object of the present book is to describe in detail the ideas that
underlie searches for deviations from the predictions of Newtonian gravity.
We have focused our attention on macroscopic tests, since the question of
gravitational effects in quantum systems would warrant a separate work.
Our book is aimed at introducing the subject to graduate students who are
interested in studying this question either experimentally or theoretically.
To achieve this aim, we have combined a historical development with very
detailed technical discussions of the theoretical ideas and experimental re-
sults. It is our hope that a student interested in this field will find our book
a helpful guide in getting started.

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