21Nov
Seminars and colloquia
Time
Venue
Beecroft Seminar Room
Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH
Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH
Speaker(s)
Ben Elder (Imperial College London)
Seminar series
Cosmology
For more information contact
Natalia Porqueres, Matteo Zennaro
Ben Elder - Searching for dark energy and new gravitational physics in the laboratory
The existence of a small cosmological constant in our universe hints that there is more to gravity than meets the eye. A broad class of theories that modify gravity contain a screening mechanism that makes them particularly difficult to detect. I will discuss how atom interferometry provides an exciting new window into this type of modified gravity, focusing in particular on the chameleon and the symmetron. I will put these tests into the context of other short-range tests of gravity, particularly Casimir sensors and atomic spectroscopy.