Atom-Interferometry Tests of the Isotropy of Post-Newtonian Gravity

Journal Article · Fri Jan 25 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.100.031101· OSTI ID:21020959

Mueller, Holger; Chiow, Sheng-wey; Herrmann, Sven ^[1]; Chu, Steven ^[1]; Chung, Keng-Yeow ^[2]

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1. Physics Department, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
2. Physics Department, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542 (Singapore)

We present a test of the local Lorentz invariance of post-Newtonian gravity by monitoring Earth's gravity with a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer that features a resolution of up to 8x10{sup -9}g/{radical}(Hz), the highest reported thus far. Expressed within the standard model extension (SME) or Nordtvedt's anisotropic universe model, the analysis limits four coefficients describing anisotropic gravity at the ppb level and three others, for the first time, at the 10 ppm level. Using the SME we explicitly demonstrate how the experiment actually compares the isotropy of gravity and electromagnetism.

• OSTI ID: 21020959
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 100; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANISOTROPY
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
ELECTROMAGNETISM
GRAVITATION
INTERFEROMETERS
INTERFEROMETRY
ISOTROPY
LORENTZ INVARIANCE
QUANTUM GRAVITY
STANDARD MODEL
UNIVERSE