English

Experimental Detection of the Gravitomagnetic London Moment

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

It is well known that a rotating superconductor produces a magnetic field proportional to its angular velocity. The authors conjectured earlier, that in addition to this so-called London moment, also a large gravitomagnetic field should appear to explain an apparent mass increase of Niobium Cooper-pairs. This phenomenon was indeed observed and induced acceleration fields outside the superconductor in the order of about 10^-4 g were found. The field appears to be directly proportional to the applied angular acceleration of the superconductor following our theoretical motivations. If confirmed, a gravitomagnetic field of measurable magnitude was produced for the first time in a laboratory environment. These results may open up a new experimental window on testing general relativity and its consequences using coherent matter.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0603033,
  title  = {Experimental Detection of the Gravitomagnetic London Moment},
  author = {M. Tajmar and F. Plesescu and K. Marhold and C. J. de Matos},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0603033},
  year   = {2007}
}

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Submitted to Physica C