arXiv subjects

Guillaume Pignol

Publications and source records attributed to Guillaume Pignol.

20 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

The GRANIT project: Status and Perspectives

The GRANIT project is the follow-up of the pioneering experiments that first observed the quantum states of neutrons trapped in the earth's gravitational field at the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL). Due to the weakness of the gravitational force, these quantum states exhibit most unusual properties: peV energies and spatial extensions of order 10 $μ$m. Whereas the first series of observations aimed at measuring the properties of the wave functions, the GRANIT experiment will induce resonant transitions between states thus accessing to spectroscopic measurements. After a brief reminder of achieved results, the principle and the status of the experiment, presently under commissioning at the ILL, will be given. In the second part, we will discuss the potential of GRANIT to search for new physics, in particular to a modified Newton law in the micrometer range.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2011

Strongly Coupled Chameleons and the Neutronic Quantum Bouncer

We consider the potential detection of chameleons using bouncing ultracold neutrons. We show that the presence of a chameleon field over a planar plate would alter the energy levels of ultra cold neutrons in the terrestrial gravitational field. When chameleons are strongly coupled to nuclear matter, $β\gtrsim 10^8$, we find that the shift in energy levels would be detectable with the forthcoming GRANIT experiment, where a sensitivity of order one percent of a peV is expected. We also find that an extremely large coupling $β\gtrsim 10^{11}$ would lead to new bound states at a distance of order 2 microns, which is already ruled out by previous Grenoble experiments. The resulting bound, $β\lesssim 10^{11}$, is already three orders of magnitude better than the upper bound, $β\lesssim 10^{14}$, from precision tests of atomic spectra.

hep-ph↗