Weighting the vacuum: the Archimedes experiment

by Enrico Calloni (NA)

Tuesday 4 Dec 2018, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Rome

aula 131

The interactions of vacuum fluctuations and gravity is one of the most
intriguing and long standing problems of fundamental physics. In spite of
the accepted evidence of the reality of vacuum fluctuations also at
macroscopic scale through the Casimir effect, when their interaction with
gravity is considered, deep theoretical problems arise, especially put in
evidence by the so-called cosmological constant problem, for which our
universe exhibits a radius extremely smaller than that expected by
application of general relativity to vacuum energy.
The Archimedes experiment aims at measuring the interaction of vacuum
fluctuations with gravity by weighing a suitable designed stack of Casimir
cavities, whose vacuum energy is modulated by a  superconductive transition,
with a cryogenic and ultra-sensible beam balance.  It is presently under
construction and it will be located in the seismically quiet underground
SAR-GRAV laboratory,  under realization in the Sos-Enattos mine,  in the
municipality of Lula, Sardinia.
The principle of operation of the experiment is presented, together with the
present status and the future developments.

CalloniPisaDipartimento2018.pdf