Quantum-Mechanical Detection of Non-Newtonian Gravity

Abstract

In this work the possibility of detecting the presence of a Yukawa term, as an additional contribution to the usual Newtonian gravitational potential, is introduced. The central idea is to analyze the effects at quantum level employing interference patterns (at this respect the present proposal resembles the Colella, Overhauser and Werner experiment), and deduce from it the possible effects that this Yukawa term could have. We will prove that the corresponding interference pattern depends on the phenomenological parameters that define this kind of terms. Afterwards, using the so called restricted path integral formalism, the case of a particle whose position is being continuously monitored, is analyzed, and the effects that this Yukawa potential could have on the measurement outputs are obtained. This allows us to obtain another scheme that could lead to the detection of these terms. This last part also renders new theoretical predictions that could enable us to confront the restricted path integral formalism against some future experiments.