Weakly bound molecules as sensors of new gravitylike forces
arXiv:1612.03842
Abstract
Several extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics, including light dark matter candidates and unification theories, predict deviations from Newton's law of gravitation. For macroscopic distances, the inverse-square law of gravitation is well confirmed by astrophysical observations and laboratory experiments. At micrometer and shorter length scales, however, even the state-of-the-art constraints on deviations from gravitational interaction, whether provided by neutron scattering or precise measurements of forces between macroscopic bodies, are currently many orders of magnitude larger than gravity itself. Here we show that precision spectroscopy of weakly bound molecules can be used to constrain non-Newtonian interactions between atoms. A proof-of-principle demonstration using recent data from photoassociation spectroscopy of weakly bound Yb molecules yields constraints on these new interactions that are already close to state-of-the-art neutron scattering experiments. At the same time, with the development of the recently proposed optical molecular clocks, the neutron scattering constraints could be surpassed by at least two orders of magnitude.
arXiv comment5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table
References in corpus (17)
- The Hierarchy Problem and New Dimensions at a Millimeter
- A Unified Approach to the Classical Statistical Analysis of Small Signals
- Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law below the Dark-Energy Length Scale
- Light Dark Matter: Models and Constraints
- Constraining New Forces in the Casimir Regime Using the Isoelectronic Technique
- Improved constraints on non-Newtonian forces at 10 microns
- Neutron scattering and extra short range interactions
- Stronger limits on hypothetical Yukawa interactions in the 40--8000 nm range
- Bounds on fifth forces from precision measurements on molecules
- New experimental limits on non-Newtonian forces in the micrometer-range
- Creation of ultracold Sr2 molecules in the electronic ground state
- Limits on Nonstandard Forces in the Submicrometer Range
- Constraints on New Gravitylike Forces in the Nanometer Range
- Constraints on new interactions from neutron scattering experiments
- Constraints on corrections to Newtonian gravity from two recent measurements of the Casimir interaction between metallic surfaces
- Deviations from Born-Oppenheimer mass scaling in spectroscopy and ultracold molecular physics
- High-precision spectroscopy of ultracold molecules in an optical lattice