New Test of Lorentz Invariance Using the MICROSCOPE Space Mission

Hélène Pihan-le Bars, Christine Guerlin, Aurélien Hees, Romain Peaucelle, Jay D. Tasson, Quentin G. Bailey, Geoffrey Mo, Pacôme Delva, Frédéric Meynadier, Pierre Touboul, Gilles Métris, Manuel Rodrigues, Joël Bergé, and Peter Wolf
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 231102 – Published 2 December 2019

Abstract

We use data from the T-SAGE instrument on board the MICROSCOPE space mission to search for Lorentz violation in matter-gravity couplings as described by the Lorentz violating standard model extension (SME) coefficients (a¯eff)μw, where (μ=T, X, Y, Z) and (w=e, p, n) for the electron, proton, and neutron. One of the phenomenological consequences of a nonzero value of those coefficients is that test bodies of different composition fall differently in an external gravitational field. This is similar to “standard” tests of the universality of free fall, but with a specific signature that depends on the orbital velocity and rotation of Earth. We analyze data from five measurement sessions of MICROSCOPE spread over a year finding no evidence for such a signature, but setting constraints on linear combinations of the SME coefficients that improve on best previous results by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. Additionally, our independent linear combinations are different from previous ones, which increases the diversity of available constraints, paving the way towards a full decorrelation of the individual coefficients.

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  • Received 2 September 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.231102

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Hélène Pihan-le Bars1, Christine Guerlin1,2, Aurélien Hees1, Romain Peaucelle1,3, Jay D. Tasson4, Quentin G. Bailey5, Geoffrey Mo4, Pacôme Delva1, Frédéric Meynadier1,6, Pierre Touboul7, Gilles Métris8, Manuel Rodrigues7, Joël Bergé7, and Peter Wolf1,*

  • 1SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, LNE, 75014 Paris, France
  • 2Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS-Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France
  • 3Ecole Supérieure des Techniques Aéronautiques et de Construction Automobile (ESTACA), 78066 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057, USA
  • 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA
  • 6Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Pavillon de Breteuil, 92312 Sèvres, France
  • 7DPHY, ONERA, Université Paris Saclay, 92322 Châtillon, France
  • 8Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, IRD, Géoazur, 06560 Valbonne, France

  • *peter.wolf@obspm.fr

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Issue

Vol. 123, Iss. 23 — 6 December 2019

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