Correlation method estimation of the modulation signal in the weak equivalence principle test

In a test of the weak equivalence principle(WEP) with a rotating torsion pendulum, it is important to estimate the amplitude of the modulation signal with high precision. We use a torsional filter to remove the free oscillation signal and employ the correlation method to estimate the amplitude of the modulation signal. The data analysis of an experiment shows that the uncertainties of amplitude components of the modulation signal obtained by the correlation method are in agreement with those due to white noise. The power spectral density of the modulation signal obtained by the correlation method is about one order higher than the thermal noise limit. It indicates that the correlation method is an effective way to estimate the amplitude of the modulation signal and it is instructive to conduct a high-accuracy WEP test.     

Effect of gravity gradient in weak equivalence principle test

A high accuracy test of the weak equivalence principle(WEP) is of great scientific significance no matter whether its result is positive. We analyze the gravity gradient effect which is a main systematic error source in the test of WEP.The result shows that the uncompensated gravity gradient effect from the coupling term of the dominated gravity gradient multipole moment component q_(21) and the relative multipole field component Q_(21) contributes to an uncertainty of 1×10~(-11) on the E¨otv¨os parameter. We make a Q_(21) compensation to reduce the effect by about 20 times, and the limit of the test precision due to this coupling is improved to a level of a part in 10~(13).     

Determination of the thermal noise limit in test of weak equivalence principle with a rotating torsion pendulum

Thermal noise is one of the most fundamental limits to the sensitivity in weak equivalence principle test with a rotating torsion pendulum. Velocity damping and internal damping are two of many contributions at the thermal noise, and which one mainly limits the torsion pendulum in low frequency is difficult to be verified by experiment. Based on the conventional method of fast Fourier transform, we propose a developed method to determine the thermal noise limit and then obtain the precise power spectrum density of the pendulum motion signal. The experiment result verifies that the thermal noise is mainly contributed by the internal damping in the fiber in the low frequency torsion pendulum experiment with a high vacuum. Quantitative data analysis shows that the basic noise level in the experiment is about one to two times of the theoretical value of internal damping thermal noise.     

等效原理与双生子问题

爱因斯坦等效原理是广义相对论的基石,引力场的钟慢效应和引力红移效应是等效原理的两个基本推论;双生子问题属于狭义相对论的范畴.等效原理与双生子问题间的联系在相对论的教学中常被忽视.文章基于爱因斯坦等效原理,将匀加速系统与一个均匀引力场等效起来,详细地推导出引力场的钟慢效应,并证明了与之本质相同的引力红移效应;最后根据等效原理的这些基本推论在广义相对论框架下讨论了双生子问题,并用一个清晰的物理图像给出了双生子问题的广义相对论解释.     

金属板与介质板之间的Casimir效应 *

利用 1 + 1维有限势垒模型计算了金属板与介质板之间的Casimir力 .它由直接收敛的级数给出而不需采用重整化或截断函数方法 .计算结果表明 ,金属板与介质板之间的Casimir效应除了与介质的势垒高度 ,厚度以及金属板与介质板的间隙a有关外 ,还要受实验容器尺度的影响 .当间隙a远小于容器尺度时Casimir力正比于a^-1,当a较大时正比于a^-2 .这一结果对于非理想导体之间Casimir效应的实验检验具有重要指导意义     

Influence of Photon Mass on Vacuum Birefringence Experiment

Influence of photon mass on vacuum birefringence experiment is analysed according to the nonlinearities of vacuum quantum electrodynamics for the light propagation through an intense electromagnetic field. It is shown that although the photon mass will cause a change of the refractive indices n┴ and nⅡ of vacuum birefringence, the difference nⅡ - n┴ is unchanged, which means that the effect of photon mass cannot be observed in vacuum birefringence experiment.     

Gravitational Faraday Rotation of the Earth and Its Possible Test

It is shown that the rotation of the polarization plane of rays induced by a rotating body can be accumulated by means of a long baseline optical cavity. Theoretical analysis shows that the presently proposal experimental scheme is possible to test this gravitational Faraday rotation effect on the Earth, especially including how to effectively suppress the dominant part of the Sagnac effect due to the rotation of the Earth with a reasonable experimental configuration.     

利用扭秤检验牛顿反平方定律在近距离范围的正确性

许多理论模型预言牛顿引力反平方定律在近距离下将发生偏离.本文简要介绍了牛顿反平方定律的实验检验现状,给出了利用精密扭秤技术检验近距离反平方定律的实验原理和实验结果,分析了扭秤实验的热噪声和灵敏度.     

Precision Measurement of Distribution of Film Thickness on Pendulum for Experiment of G

Distribution of film thickness coated on the pendulum of measuring the Newton gravitational constant G is determined with a weighing method by means of a precision mass comparator. The experimental result shows that the gold film on the pendulum will contribute a correction of -24.3 ppm to our G measurement with an uncertainty of 4.3 ppm, which is significant for improving the G value with high precision.     

Correction of cosine oscillation to the improved correlation method of estimating the amplitude of gravitational background signal

In the measurement of G with the angular acceleration method,the improved correlation method developed by Wu et al.(Wu W H,Tian Y,Luo J,Shao C G,Xu J H and Wang DH 2016 Rev.Sci.Instrum.87 094501) is used to accurately estimate the amplitudes of the prominent harmonic components of the gravitational background signal with time-varying frequency.Except the quadratic slow drift,the angular frequency of the gravitational background signal also includes a cosine oscillation coming from the useful angular acceleration signal,which leads to a deviation from the estimated amplitude.We calculate the correction of the cosine oscillation to the amplitude estimation.The result shows that the corrections of the cosine oscillation to the amplitudes of the fundamental frequency and second harmonic components obtained by the improved correlation method are within respective errors.