Search Publications
Platform and environment requirements of a satellite quantum test of the weak equivalence principle at the 10-17 level
Métris, Gilles; Struckmann, Christian; Corgier, Robin +6 more
The space-time explorer and quantum equivalence principle space test (STE-QUEST) recently proposed, aims at performing a precision test of the weak equivalence principle (WEP), a fundamental cornerstone of general relativity. Taking advantage of the ideal operation conditions for high-precision quantum sensing on board of a satellite, it aims to d…
Violation of the equivalence principle induced by oscillating rest mass and transition frequency, and its detection in atom interferometers
Wolf, Peter; Gué, Jordan; Hees, Aurélien
We present a theoretical investigation of the expected experimental signals produced by freely falling atoms with time oscillating mass and transition frequency. These oscillations could be produced in a variety of models, in particular, models of scalar dark matter nonuniversally coupled to the standard matter such as axionlike particles and dila…
Weak equivalence principle and nonrelativistic limit of general dispersion relations
Hohmann, Manuel; Pfeifer, Christian; Wagner, Fabian
We study the weak equivalence principle in the context of modified dispersion relations, a prevalent approach to quantum gravity phenomenology. We find that generic modified dispersion relations violate the weak equivalence principle. The acceleration in general depends on the mass of the test body, unless the Hamiltonian is either 2-homogeneous i…
Invisible dilaton
Brax, Philippe; Valageas, Patrick; Burrage, Clare +1 more
We analyze the dynamics of a light scalar field responsible for the µ term of the Higgs potential and coupled to matter via the Higgs-portal mechanism. We find that this dilaton model is stable under radiative corrections induced by the standard model particle masses. When the background value of the scalar field is stabilized at the minimum…
Constraints on chameleon gravity from the measurement of the electrostatic stiffness of the M I C R O S C O P E mission accelerometers
Bergé, Joel; Pernot-Borràs, Martin; Uzan, Jean-Philippe +4 more
This article is dedicated to the use the MICROSCOPE mission's data to test chameleon theory of gravity. We take advantage of the technical sessions aimed to characterize the electrostatic stiffness of MICROSCOPE's instrument intrinsic to its capacitive measurement system. Any discrepancy between the expected and measured stiffness may result from …
Fifth force induced by a chameleon field on nested cylinders
Bergé, Joel; Pernot-Borràs, Martin; Uzan, Jean-Philippe +1 more
This article investigates the properties of a scalar fifth force that arises in a scalar tensor-theory with a chameleon screening mechanism in the context of gravity space missions like the MICROSCOPE experiment. In such an experiment, the propagation of the chameleon field inside the nested cylinders of the experiment causes a fifth force when th…
M I C R O S C O P E limits on the strength of a new force with comparisons to gravity and electromagnetism
Fayet, Pierre
Extremely weak new forces could lead to apparent violations of the equivalence principle. The MICROSCOPE experiment implies that the relative strength of a new long-range force, compared with gravity, is constrained to |α¯ g|<3.2 ×10-11 , 2.3 ×10-13 , 2.2 ×10-13 , 6.7 ×10-13 , and 1.5 ×10
General study of chameleon fifth force in gravity space experiments
Bergé, Joel; Pernot-Borràs, Martin; Uzan, Jean-Philippe +1 more
In this article we investigate the profile of the scalar field of a scalar-tensor theory subject to the chameleon mechanism in the context of gravity space missions like the MICROSCOPE experiment. We analyze the experimental situations for models with an inverse power-law potential that can in principle induce a fifth force inside the satellite, a…
Violation of the equivalence principle from light scalar dark matter
Wolf, Peter; Hees, Aurélien; Minazzoli, Olivier +2 more
In this paper, we study the local observational consequences of a violation of the Einstein equivalence principle induced by models of light scalar dark matter (DM). We focus on two different models where the scalar field couples linearly or quadratically to the standard model of matter fields. For both these cases, we derive the solutions of the …
MICROSCOPE limits for new long-range forces and implications for unified theories
Fayet, Pierre
Many theories beyond the standard model involve an extra U (1 ) gauge group. The resulting gauge boson U , in general mixed with the Z and the photon, may be massless or very light and very weakly coupled. It may be viewed as a generalized dark photon interacting with matter through a linear combination [ɛQQ +ɛBB +ɛL