Search for spin-dependent gravitational interactions at the Earth range

Abstract

Among the four fundamental forces, only gravity does not couple to particle spins according to the general theory of relativity. We test this principle by searching for an anomalous scalar coupling between the neutron spin and the Earth gravity on the ground. We develop an atomic gas comagnetometer to measure the ratio of nuclear spin-precession frequencies between ${}^{129}$Xe and ${}^{131}$Xe, and search for a change of this ratio to the precision of 10${}^{-9}$ as the sensor is flipped in the Earth gravitational field. The null results of this search set an upper limit on the coupling energy between the neutron spin and the gravity on the ground at 5.3$\times$10${}^{-22}$~eV (95\% confidence level), resulting in a 17-fold improvement over the previous limit. The results can also be used to constrain several other anomalous interactions. In particular, the limit on the coupling strength of axion-mediated monopole-dipole interactions at the range of the Earth radius is improved by a factor of 17.

arXiv commentAccepted by Physical Review Letters

References in corpus (25)

• Search for New Physics with Atoms and Molecules
• Spin-Dependent Macroscopic Forces from New Particle Exchange
• Test of Einstein Equivalence Principle for 0-spin and half-integer-spin atoms: Search for spin-gravity coupling effects
• Preferred-Frame and CP-Violation Tests with Polarized Electrons
• A Laboratory Search for a Long-Range T-odd, P-odd Interaction from Axion-Like Particles using Dual Species Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Polarized Xe-129 and Xe-131 Gas
• Improved Limits on Spin-Mass Interactions
• Constraints on Spin-Dependent Short-Range Interaction between Nucleons
• Limits on a CP-violating scalar axion-nucleon interaction
• Test of the universality of free fall with atoms in different spin Orientations
• Test of the universality of free fall with atoms in different spin orientations
• Ultra-sensitive magnetometry based on free precession of nuclear spins
• Comagnetometer probes of dark matter and new physics
• Revisiting spin-dependent forces mediated by new bosons: Potentials in the coordinate-space representation for macroscopic- and atomic-scale experiments
• Searches for the role of spin and polarization in gravity
• New limits on Anomalous Spin-Spin Interactions
• New classes of systematic effects in gas spin co-magnetometers
• Nuclear spin content and constraints on exotic spin-dependent couplings
• Constraints on long-range spin-gravity and monopole-dipole couplings of the proton
• Accurate measurement of the Sagnac effect for matter waves
• Scalar-tensor theories with pseudoscalar couplings
• Search for monopole-dipole interactions at the sub-millimeter range with a ${}^{129}$Xe-${}^{131}$Xe-Rb comagnetometer
• Herriott-Cavity-Assisted Closed-Loop Xe Isotope Comagnetometer
• Electric quadrupole shifts of the precession frequencies of ${}^{131}$Xe atoms in rectangular cells
• Rotatable-Torsion-Balance Equivalence Principleexperiment for the Spin-Polarized Hofe_{3}
• Phenomenological Implications of a Magnetic 5th Force

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Spin-dependent exotic interactions
• Searches for exotic spin-dependent interactions with spin sensors
• Using Earth to Search for Long-Range Spin-Velocity Interactions
• Inter-species spin-noise correlations in hot atomic vapors
• Frequency Shift Caused by Nonuniform Field and Boundary Relaxation in Magnetic Resonance and Comagnetometers
• Axion-Like Particle Detection in Alkali-Noble-Gas Haloscopes
• Potential of constraining the Fifth Force Using the Earth as a Spin and Mass Source from space
• Testing the Fifth Force on Lepton Spins through Neutrino Oscillations
• Constraining the spin-gravity coupling effects to the $10^{-10}$-level with dual-species atom interferometers
• Cold-atom comagnetometry via optical control of spin states