A quick test of the WEP enabled by a sounding rocket
Abstract
We describe SR-POEM, a Galilean test of the weak equivalence principle, which is to be conducted during the free fall portion of a sounding rocket flight. This test of a single pair of substances is aimed at a measurement uncertainty of \sigma(\eta) < 10-16 after averaging the results of eight separate drops, each of 40 s duration. The weak equivalence principle measurement is made with a set of four laser gauges that are expected to achieve 0.1 pm/\sqrt{Hz}. We address the two sources of systematic error that are currently of greatest concern, magnetic force and electrostatic (patch effect) force on the test mass assemblies. The discovery of a violation (\eta \not= 0) would have profound implications for physics, astrophysics and cosmology.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1011.3467,
title = {A quick test of the WEP enabled by a sounding rocket},
author = {Robert D. Reasenberg and Enrico C. Lorenzini and Biju R. Patla and James D. Phillips and Eugeniu E. Popescu and Emanuele Rocco and Rajesh Thapa},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.3467},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
10 pages, 2 figures, To be submitted to: Classical and Quantum Gravity