Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 2: Experimental Tests

GR 2.1: Talk

Monday, March 16, 2015, 15:00–15:20, H 2013

Free fall mass determination — •Martin Thalhammer^1,2, Gunther Cronenberg¹, Hanno Filter¹, Peter Geltenbort², Jörg Herzinger¹, Tobias Jenke¹, Tobias Rechberger¹, and Hartmut Abele¹ — ¹Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, Stadionallee 2, 1020 Wien, Austria — ²Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France

With the qBounce Experiment we are able to derive both the inertial and the gravitational mass, from the free fall of single neutrons. The spatial modulation of the corresponding Schrödinger wave function scales with z₀, which is determined by the third root of the product of the two masses. The discrete energy spectrum of the gravitational bound states depends on the inertial as well as the gravitational mass with two different fractional powers. Knowing the local acceleration of the earth g and measuring two observables energy and spatial modulations, this information allows us for the first time to determine the inertial mass and the gravitational mass of a single particle, the neutron independently.