Search for a coupling of the Earth's gravitational field to nuclear spins in atomic mercury

Journal Article · Mon Jan 13 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.135· OSTI ID:5084860

Venema, B J; Majumder, P K; Lamoreaux, S K; Heckel, B R; Fortson, E N ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, FM-15, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)

We have measured the ratio of nuclear spin-precession frequencies of {sup 199}Hg and {sup 201}Hg atoms for two orientations of magnetic field relative to the Earth's gravitational field. We find that the spin-dependent component of gravitational energy is less than 2.2{times}10{sup {minus}21} eV, a substantial improvement over previous limits. Our result provides a test of the equivalence principle for nuclear spins, and sets limits on the magnitude of possible scalar-pseudoscalar interactions which would couple to the spins.

• OSTI ID: 5084860
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Vol. 68:2; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
MERCURY 199
GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS
MERCURY 201
SPIN
DATA ANALYSIS
EXPERIMENT PLANNING
FREQUENCY MEASUREMENT
LIMITING VALUES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MEASURING METHODS
POTENTIALS
ZEEMAN EFFECT
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
BASIC INTERACTIONS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HEAVY NUCLEI
INTERACTIONS
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MERCURY ISOTOPES
MICROSEC LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PLANNING
RADIOISOTOPES
STABLE ISOTOPES
661310* - Relativity & Gravitation- (1992-)