MG12 - Talk detail
 

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Abstract

Design considerations of torsion balances for the search of new forces in the submillimeter range

Extensions of the ‘Standard Model’, Quantum Gravity and String Theories strongly motivate the existence of new forces and deviations from Newtonian gravity in the sub-millimeter domain. In experimentally searching for the existence of these forces we face the dual challenges of the ubiquitous background generated by Newtonian gravity and the extreme weakness of the coupling of the new forces to normal matter. The strategies to address these two challenges are discussed in this paper. After, briefly presenting the details of the torsion balance under construction at Washington University in St. Louis, we derive the Newtonian background for this apparatus and show the constraints it places on the design of such torsion balances employed in the search for feeble forces. We also derive the torques induced on the balance due to various forces with Yukawa-like and power law dependence on distance, and show that the current design is particularly efficacious in the searches for new forces in the submillimeter domain.

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