Related papers: The Archimedes experiment
Gravity is the weakest fundamental interaction and the only one that has not been measured at the particle level. Traditional experimental methods, from astronomical observations to torsion balances, use macroscopic masses to both source…
The Casimir effect refers to the existence of a macroscopic force between conducting plates in vacuum due to quantum fluctuations of fields. These forces play an important role, among other things, in the design of nano-scale mechanical…
The physical nature of the currently observed dark energy in the universe is completely unclear, and many different theoretical models co-exist. Nevertheless, if dark energy is produced by vacuum fluctuations then there is a chance to probe…
A new approach to the measurement of gravitational fields with an equilibrium ensemble of ultra-cold alkali atoms confined in a cell of volume $V$ is investigated. The proposed model of the gravitational sensor is based on a variation of…
Using the FLUIDICS (Fluid Dynamics in Space) experiment in the International Space Station, turbulence of capillary waves at the air-water interface is experimentally investigated in weightlessness. Capillary waves are excited in a…
On the examples of the quantum-electrodynamical Casimir force, as well as critical Casimir and Helmholtz forces, we present a review of some results available for the class of fluctuation induced forces. In addition, we also concisely…
Quantum fluctuations give rise to Casimir forces between two parallel conducting plates, the magnitude of which increases monotonically as the separation decreases. By introducing nanoscale gratings to the surfaces, recent advances have…
Superconducting gravimeters are the most sensitive instruments to measure surface gravity changes at low frequencies. Currently, about twenty five superconducting gravimeters are operating in the world and their global network has been…
Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature fluctuations are a powerful tool for testing theories of the early Universe and for measuring cosmological parameters. We present basics of CMB physics, review some of the…
Modifications of general relativity provide an alternative explanation to dark energy for the observed acceleration of the universe. We review recent developments in modified gravity theories, focusing on higher dimensional approaches and…
The physical origin of the Casimir force is connected with the existence of zero-point and thermal fluctuations. The Casimir effect is very general and finds applications in various fields of physics. This review is limited to the rapid…
We have realized an atom interferometer that probes gravitational potentials by holding, rather than dropping, atoms. Up to one minute of coherence times are realized by suspending the spatially separated atomic wave packets in an optical…
We explore two hypotheses. First, the possibility that the quantum vacuum energy density of the Casimir effect contributes to a (local) gravitational vacuum energy density. Second, the possibility that a change in the gravitational coupling…
A novel experimental setup to measure deviations from the $1/r^2$ distance dependence of Newtonian gravity was proposed in arXiv:1609.05654. The underlying theoretical idea was to study the orbits of a microscopically-sized planetary system…
Vacuum magnetic birefringence (VMB) is an effect predicted by quantum electrodynamics, in which the vacuum behaves as a non-linear optical medium and exhibit a birefringence in the presence of a magnetic field. In this work, an…
Testing the limits of the applicability of quantum mechanics will deepen our understanding of the universe and may shed light on the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity. At present there is a wide range of approaches for such…
Gravimetry is a well-established technique for the determination of sub-surface mass distribution needed in several fields of geoscience, and various types of gravimeters have been developed over the last 50 years. Among them, quantum…
In this thesis, we investigate quantum vacuum effects in the presence of gravitational fields. After discussing the general theory of vacuum effects in strong fields we apply it to the relevant issue of the interaction of the quantum vacuum…
Current acceleration of the cosmic expansion leads to coincidence as well as fine-tuning issues in the framework of general relativity. Dynamical scalar fields have been introduced in response of these problems, some of them invoking…
Vacuum fluctuations play a central role in spontaneous emission. Recently, it has been suggested that these fluctuations could also be fundamental in the absorption dynamics, breaking the superposition inherent to the linear quantum…