Prospects for terrestrial equivalence principle tests with a cryogenic torsion pendulum
Author: Newman R.
Source: Classical and Quantum Gravity, Volume 18, Number 13, 2001 , pp. 2407-2415(9)
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing
Abstract:
A torsion pendulum may be used to measure effective differential accelerations of test masses in the field of sources on distance scales below those accessible in a space experiment such as STEP. Operation of a torsion pendulum at low temperature (2 K) offers many benefits, notably: low thermal noise, high fibre stability, highly effective superconducting magnetic shielding and excellent temperature control. With such an instrument it should be possible to detect differential accelerations as small as [iopmath latex="$10^{-14}$"] 10-14 [/iopmath] cm s [iopmath latex="$^{-2}$"] -2 [/iopmath] , or fractional differential accelerations in the field of the Earth as small as [iopmath latex="$\eta= 10^{-14}$"] = 10-14 [/iopmath] . This paper discusses the sources of noise and systematic error that limit a cryogenic torsion pendulum in such measurements.
Language: English
Document Type: Miscellaneous

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