| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 30, 2008
Spanish Relativity Meeting - Encuentros Relativistas Españoles , ERE2007: Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology
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|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 339 - 343 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas:0830057 | |
| Published online | 30 September 2008 | |
A. Oscoz, E. Mediavilla and M. Serra-Ricart (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 30 (2008) 339-343
TEPEE/GReAT (General Relativity Accuracy Test in an Einstein Elevator): Advances in the detector development
1
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI/INAF), via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 00133 Roma, Italia
2
Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, MA, USA
3
University of Padova, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Padua, Italy
4
Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
This paper reports the development of an experiment (TEPEE/GReAT) to test the Equivalence Principle (EP) at a level of accuracy equal to 5 × 10-15, by means of a differential accelerometer free falling in a cryogenic vacuum capsule released from a stratospheric balloon. Such an accuracy requires resolving a very small signal out of the instrument's intrinsic noise and the noise associated with the instrument's motion. Imperfections in the construction of the detector introduce gravity gradient noise that it is possible to separate from the violation signal spinning the detector around an horizontal axis in order to have the EP violation signal and the gravity gradients one modulated at two different frequencies. Experimental results on prototype instruments showing high sensitivity and common mode rejection factor are shown.
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2008