Measuring the speed of gravity at short distances: Sensitivity estimate

An experimental set up was proposed to determine the speed of gravitational signals traveling in air or in some other medium. It involves two vibrating masses—the emitters, which will be the sources of periodic tidal gravitational signals—and one sapphire‐made mass that will act as a detector, posit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAstronomische Nachrichten Vol. 345; no. 2-3
Main Authors Frajuca, Carlos, Silva Bortoli, Fabio, Garcia, Natan Vanelli, Magalhaes, Nadja Simao
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Weinheim WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA 01.02.2024
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Emitters
experiment
finite element method
Mathematical analysis
Sapphire
Sensitivity
Sensors
speed of gravity
Whispering gallery modes
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:An experimental set up was proposed to determine the speed of gravitational signals traveling in air or in some other medium. It involves two vibrating masses—the emitters, which will be the sources of periodic tidal gravitational signals—and one sapphire‐made mass that will act as a detector, positioned between the two emitters. The detector is planned to be suspended in vacuum and cooled down to 4.2 K, and its vibrational amplitude should be measured by a microwave signal (with ultra‐low phase‐noise) that is expected to resonate with the whispering gallery modes inside the detector. The mechanical and electrical quality factors of sapphire are quite high, yielding a very narrow detection band that reduces the detector sensitivity while amplifying the phase difference of the emitters' signals. The frequencies of the normal modes of the detector were previously determined using a finite element program. In this work, these frequencies are applied to the calculation of a first estimate of the sensitivity of the experiment.
ISSN:0004-6337
1521-3994
DOI:10.1002/asna.20230177