A search for deviations from the inverse square law of gravity at nm range using a pulsed neutron beam

¹ High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, KEK 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
² Nagoya University Furocho, Chikusa Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture 464-0814, Japan
³ Department of Physics, Kyushu University 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
⁴ Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Osaka University 10-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan
⁵ Department of Physics, Indiana University 727 E. Third St., Swain Hall West, Room 117, Bloomington, IN 47405-7105, USA
⁶ Research Center for Advanced Particle Physics, Kyushu University 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
⁷ National Institute of Standards and Techonology 100 Bureau Dr, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA

^a e-mail: christopher.haddock@nist.gov

Published online: 12 December 2019

Abstract

Recently published results and ongoing experimental efforts to search for deviations from the inverse square law of gravity at the nanometer length scale using slow neutron scattering from the noble gases are discussed. Using the pulsed slow neutron beamline BL05 at the Materials and Life Sciences Facility at J-PARC, we measured the neutron momentum transfer (q) dependence of the differential scattering cross section for the noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. By comparing to the distributions obtained using pseudo-experimental Monte Carlo simulations and forming ratios between Xe and He, we placed an upper bound on the strength of a new interaction as a function of interaction length λ which improved upon previous results in the region λ < 0.1 nm, and remains competitive in the larger λ region. Additionally we describe how we are using our technique to extract relative values of the total neutron scattering cross sections of the noble gases, as well as how we plan to measure the neutron-electron scattering length using the NOVA instrument on BL21 at J-PARC.