Non-Newtonian Forces

*9803765 Boynton在过去的三年里，该小组测试并改进了一种新型的扭摆仪，以测量极微小的力(扭矩)。这项技术避开了目前进一步提高扭摆测量信噪比的障碍--光纤温度变化--并为高精度重力测试和相关实验开辟了新的可能性。他们计划使用这种仪器来进行非牛顿相互作用的测试。根据这个原型仪器的测量性能和对牛顿引力造成的极限系统效应的详细计算，他们发现有可能为任何范围在10到20厘米之间的非牛顿势的强度设定上限，接近普通重力强度的10-5。这比这个范围或任何地球维度范围内现有的实验界限低一个数量级以上。*

***9803765BoyntonOver the past three years, this group has tested and refined a new type of torsion pendulum instrument to measure extremely small forces (torques). This technology sidesteps the current impediment to further increases in signal-to-noise ratio for torsion pendulum measurements--fiber temperature variations--and opens new possibilities for high-precision tests of gravity and related experiments. They plan to employ this instrumentation to carry out the test for non-Newtonian interactions.Based on the measured performance of this prototype instrument and detailed calculations of the limiting systematic effects posed by Newtonian gravity, they find it possible to set an upper bound on the strength of any non-Newtonian potential with a range between 10 and 20 centimeters, that approaches 10-5 of the strength of ordinary gravity. This is more than an order of magnitude below existing experimental bounds at this range or any range of terrestrial dimensions.***