Torsion balances as operational probes of semiclassical gravity: Matched-filter bounds, torque-diffusion constraints, and quantum-noise benchmarks

Abstract

Calibrated torsion-balance spectra constrain deterministic and stochastic deviations from standard Newtonian gravity. Using one-sided spectra, we derive a calibrated angle-equivalent noise budget and finite-time matched-filter/Cram\'er-Rao bounds for known torque templates. For stochastic models, subtracting the calibrated standard noise budget (thermal, Newtonian, environmental, imprecision, backaction) from the observed angle spectrum yields a residual spectrum, convertible to an equivalent residual torque spectrum via calibrated torsional susceptibility. This bounds additional stationary stochastic torque noise. This frequency-resolved bound compresses to a single torque-diffusion coefficient, $D_\tau$, only in the Markovian white-noise limit; non-Markovian or colored models require the full residual spectrum. Page--Geilker branch discrimination and Fedida-Kent mixture-equivalence tests address distinct physical questions, but upon projection onto torque templates, both reduce to the same statistical matched-filter discrimination problem. For a room-temperature Cavendish benchmark, resonant thermal angle ASD is $1.36\times10^{-4}\,\mathrm{rad}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, while measurement-added SQL is $3.25\times10^{-12}\,\mathrm{rad}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$. For the Yan \emph{et al.} search, the reported $0.3\,\mu\mathrm{rad}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ sensitivity at $2.5\,\mathrm{mHz}$ yields a conservative bound $D_\tau \lesssim 2.4\times10^{-23}\,\mathrm{N^2\,m^2\,s}$, assuming white torque noise. These formulations provide an interface linking calibrated torsion-balance data, deterministic tests, and stochastic semiclassical-gravity searches, without asserting a direct test of the full relativistic semiclassical Einstein equation.