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Abstract

A Neutron Interferometric Method to Provide Improved Constraints on Non-Newtonian Gravity at the Nanometer Scale

In recent years, an energetic experimental program has set stringent limits on a possible “non – 1/r2” dependence on gravity at short length scales. The length scales accessible to experiments based upon the detection of small forces on small objects have limited sensitivity at very short length scales. As a “heavy”, neutral, and nearly point like particle, the neutron provides a promising probe for the study of hypothetical interactions at ranges below a few microns. However, a challenge to any neutron experiment is that the effects of all other interactions (nuclear and electromagnetic) be adequately determined and that the geometry of all relevant gravitational potentials be sufficiently well known. Here we suggest the use of a neutron interferometer in a configuration in which the neutron phase change due to a hypothesized anomalous force with a Yukawa potential can be distinguished from phase changes due to nuclear and electromagnetic forces. Because the method uses a perfect crystal of silicon as a sample, the geometrical distribution of the “source” masses (i.e. the silicon nuclei) is very well known.

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