last update 12/14/2007 11:06 AM

Welcome to the HSU Gravity Research Laboratory!

Location: Science A 264

Lab Phone: x4981

Page Under Construction…

Primary Research Areas

• Short-range tests of Newton’s 1/r² law and the Weak Equivalence Principle
• Searches for new fundamental forces
• Investigation of the mechanism behind Dark Energy

Overview

After over 300 years of experimentation, the true nature and implications of gravity are not fully understood. Here at HSU, we are creating a laboratory to investigate the subtle properties of this familiar force of nature.

Gravity and quantum mechanics are fundamentally inconsistent in the current frameworks of the Standard Model and General Relativity. String theory promises a possible resolution of this issue at the cost of introducing new spatial dimensions (Arkani-Hamed, et al.). These dimensions will necessarily alter the Newtonian inverse-square law on distance scales similar to that of the size of these extra dimensions.

Gravity Presentation

People

PI: C.D. Hoyle, x3235

Current Students:

Holly Edmundson

Liam Furniss

Edward Kemper

Nathan Rasmussen

Former Students:

Jacob Crummey

Support

We are grateful for financial support provided by the HSU College of Natural Resources and Sciences, HSU Office for Research, Graduate Studies, and International Programs, and Research Corporation grant CC6839.

Photos

Testing the new vacuum chamber, custom-built by Chamber close-up.

Atlas Technologies.

Optical system mock-up. Data Acquisition.