We will discuss a few hand-picked examples of how “table-top” experiments push the frontiers of particle physics and may help us answer the “big” (a.k.a., elephant-in-the room) questions.
Understanding the fundamental nature of gravity at the interface with quantum theory is a major open question in theoretical physics. Recently, the study of gravitating quantum systems, for instance a massive quantum system prepared in a quantum superposition of positions and sourcing a gravitational field, has attracted a lot of attention: quantum optics experiments are working towards...
The Archimedes experiment has the goal to measure the vacuum fluctuations interaction with Gravity. A high sensitive balance is employed to measure the small weight variations of high Tc superconducting samples when they pass to their superconductive status.
We descrive the challenging experimental solutions adopted for having a very efficient heat exchange with the samples only through the...
Today, matter-wave interferometers such as clocks and gravimeters allow precision measurements of time and gravity at unprecedented levels. In all these sensors, the exquisite control of both internal (electronic) and external (center of mass motion) degrees of freedom of ultra-cold atomic samples, enable us to study interactions at their most basic, quantum level, paving the way for new...
In recent years, astrophysical dark matter research is rapidly expanding towards ultralight bosons and new detection techniques are appearing on the horizon. Among these, the detection of small forces at frequency f = mA c^2/h (mA is the mass of the boson) on mechanical systems, a path opened by the Gravitational Wave detectors Virgo and LIGO, particularly in the mass region 10-14 to 10-11 eV....
I will describe two INFN experiments exploiting opto-mechanical resonators for investigating involving gravity. The first is HUMOR, which set upper limits to possible deformation of the standard commutator between position and momentum. The second is GRAFIQO, aiming to detect gravitational interaction between low-mass oscillators.
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) is one of the main
cornerstones of the Quantum Theory. Violation of the PEP, albeit small, could be
motivated by physics beyond the Standard Model which entail extra space
dimensions, violation of the Lorentz invariance, non-commutative space-time.
These scenarios can be experimentally constrained with stat-of-the-art X-ray
spectroscopy, searching for...
Precision measurements on molecular quantum systems have developed into a powerful way to explore new physics. Such measurements are currently the most sensitive way to probe an effective asymmetry in the charge distribution of the electron - its electric dipole moment. Through a measurement of this property, limits can be set on possible extensions of the Standard model of particle physics....
Macroscopic and mesoscopic ferromagnets levitated by Meissner effect in vacuum behave as multimode mechanical systems with ultrahigh quality factor and high sensitivity to external magnetic fields. Furthermore, they can be easily coupled to superconducting quantum devices. This suggests the possibility of using this experimental platform for a variety of measurements in the context of...
Resonant positron annihilation on atomic electrons is a powerful technique for searching for light new particles that couple to $e^+e^-$. Precise estimates of production rates require a detailed characterisation of atomic electron momentum distributions. I will present a general method that leverages the Compton profile of the target material to accurately account for electron velocity effects...
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991 there has been widespread excitement for their unique chemical, electrical and mechanical properties. The introduction of carbon nanotubes has led to technological breakthroughs in many fields, including electronics, biotechnologies, and chemical sensors. The aim of ANDROMeDa (Aligned Nanotube Detector for Research On MeV Darkmatter) is to...
There is vast parameter space to explore for dark matter masses below a few GeV, and the field of direct dark matter detection is constantly expanding to new frontiers. In particular, low mass dark matter candidates necessitate novel detector designs with lower thresholds and alternative target materials compared to e.g. the xenon-based experiments currently providing the strongest overall...
Based on the production of molecular samples at cryogenic temperatures by the buffer-gas-cooling technique and their combination with cavity-enhanced spectroscopy in the Lamb-dip regime, we present a new generation of high-accuracy physics tests beyond the Standard Model at the eV energy scale. Examples include searching for putative fifth-force interactions and assessing the space-time...
Various types of BSM physics, in particular new light particles, can lead to long-range forces. We can search for such "fifth force" interactions by sensitivity measuring gravity on various scales. In this talk, I will review how such long-range forces can be generated and how they lead to apparent violations of the inverse-square law and the equivalence principle of gravity. I will also...
