Testing the Equivalence Principle by Lamb shift Energies

Abstract

The Einstein Equivalence Principle has as one of its implications that the non-gravitational laws of physics are those of special relativity in any local freely-falling frame. We consider possible tests of this hypothesis for systems whose energies are due to radiative corrections, i.e. which arise purely as a consequence of quantum field theoretic loop effects. Specifically, we evaluate the Lamb shift transition (as given by the energy splitting between the $2S_{1/2}$ and $2P_{1/2}$ atomic states) within the context of violations of local position invariance and local Lorentz invariance, as described by the $TH\epsilon \mu$ formalism. We compute the associated red shift and time dilation parameters, and discuss how (high-precision) measurements of these quantities could provide new information on the validity of the equivalence principle.

40 pages, latex, epsf, 1 figure, final version which appears in Physical Review D

References in corpus (2)

• CORRECTIONS OF ORDER ${\alpha }^2(Z\alpha {)}^5$ TO HYPERFINE SPLITTING AND LAMB SHIFT
• Test of the Equivalence Principle from Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

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