http://arxiv.org/abs/1712.01176
According to the Weak Equivalence Principle, all bodies should fall at the same rate in a gravitational field. The MICROSCOPE satellite, launched in April 2016, aims to test its validity at the $10^{-15}$ precision level, by measuring the force required to maintain two test masses (of titanium and platinum alloys) exactly in the same orbit. A non-vanishing result would correspond to a violation of the Equivalence Principle, or to the discovery of a new long-range force. Analysis of the first data gives $\delta\rm{(Ti,Pt)}= [-1 \pm 9 (\mathrm{stat}) \pm 9 (\mathrm{syst})] \times 10^{-15}$ (1$\sigma$ statistical uncertainty) for the titanium-platinum E\”otv\”os parameter characterizing the relative difference in their free-fall accelerations.
P. Touboul, G. Metris, M. Rodrigues, et. al.
Tue, 5 Dec 17
43/96
Comments: Phys. Rev. Lett. 119 231101 (2017). 7 pages
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