Quantum Institute: Visitor Schedule

The Quantum Lunch is regularly held on Thursdays in the Theoretical Division Conference Room, TA-3, Building 123, Room 121.

The organizing committee includes Ryan O. Behunin (T-4 & CNLS), Malcolm Boshier (P-21), Adolfo del Campo (T-4 & CNLS), Michael Di Rosa (C-PCS), Ivar Martin (T-4), Changhyun Ryu (P-21), Rolando D. Somma (T-4), Christopher Ticknor (T-1), and Wojciech H. Zurek (T-4).

For more information, or to nominate a speaker, contact Adolfo del Campo.

To add your name to the Quantum Lunch email list, contact Ellie Vigil.

Thursday, February 28, 2013
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

Speaker: Ricardo Decca (IUPUI)

Technical Host: Ryan Behunin

TOPIC: Newton, Casimir and other interactions

Abstract
In this talk results of interactions between two bodies placed at submicron separations will be described. The bodies are covered with Au, and the separations are small enough that the dominant force is the Casimir interaction between them. Our efforts (based in characterizing the surface, controlling their geometry, and changing the separation) towards trying to understand Casimir forces will be presented. The experimental apparatus, namely a high Q mechanical oscillator, also will be described. These results in the Casimir interaction are the springboard to try to understand if there are subtle interactions that either modify or add to the existing picture of subatomic particle physics. In this part, the question that is being addressed is if there are corrections to Newtonian gravity, or if there are interactions not yet discovered. While the apparatus is basically the same as for previous experiment, the differences incorporated to try to get rid of the effects of the Casimir force in the experimental outcome will be discussed.