STEP and fundamental physics
STEP and fundamental physics
复制标题
STEP和基础物理
DOI：
10.1088/0264-9381/29/18/184012
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发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
J. Mester
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Overduin;F. Everitt;P. Worden;J. Mester
等效原理卫星测试（STEP）将通过对无阻力地球轨道卫星中四对不同成分的测试质量的运动进行多重比较，将违反爱因斯坦等效原理的实验极限从目前 1013 年两部分的灵敏度提高到 1018 年一个部分的灵敏度。我们描述了该实验、其现状及其对基础物理学的潜在影响。等效性是广义相对论的核心，在大多数试图将该理论与物理学的其他基本相互作用统一起来的尝试中，以及在对宇宙学中暗能量现象的许多理论解释中，都期望我们的引力和违反理论。发现这种违规行为就相当于发现了一种新的自然力。零结果几乎同样深远，将标准模型场与这些理论通常预测的新光自由度之间的任何耦合上限推低到不自然的小水平。
The Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP) will advance experimental limits on violations of Einstein's equivalence principle from their present sensitivity of two parts in 1013 to one part in 1018 through multiple comparison of the motions of four pairs of test masses of different compositions in a drag-free earth-orbiting satellite. We describe the experiment, its current status and its potential implications for fundamental physics. Equivalence is at the heart of general relativity, our governing theory of gravity and violations are expected in most attempts to unify this theory with the other fundamental interactions of physics, as well as in many theoretical explanations for the phenomenon of dark energy in cosmology. Detection of such a violation would be equivalent to the discovery of a new force of nature. A null result would be almost as profound, pushing upper limits on any coupling between standard-model fields and the new light degrees of freedom generically predicted by these theories down to unnaturally small levels.