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Issue Eur. Phys. J. C
Volume 40, Number 4, April 2005
Page(s) 479 - 491
DOI 10.1140/epjc/s2005-02135-y

Eur. Phys. J. C 40, 479-491 (2005)
DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s2005-02135-y

Study of the neutron quantum states in the gravity field

V. V. Nesvizhevsky1, A. K. Petukhov1, H. G. Börner1, T. A. Baranova2, A. M. Gagarski2, G. A. Petrov2, K. V. Protasov3, A. Yu Voronin4, S. Baeßler5, H. Abele6, A. Westphal7 and L. Lucovac8

1  Institut Laue-Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, BP156, 38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
2  Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, Russia
3  Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, IN2P3-CNRS-UJF, Grenoble, France
4  Lebedev Institute, Moscow, Russia
5  University of Mainz, Germany
6  University of Heidelberg, Germany
7  DESY, Hamburg, Germany
8  Université Joseph-Fourier, Grenoble, France

nesvizhevsky@ill.fr

(Received: 31 July 2004, Published online: 7 March 2005)

Abstract

We have studied neutron quantum states in the potential well formed by the earth's gravitational field and a horizontal mirror. The estimated characteristic sizes of the neutron wave functions in the two lowest quantum states correspond to expectations with an experimental accuracy. A position-sensitive neutron detector with an extra-high spatial resolution of $\sim 2 \mathrm{\mu} $ m was developed and tested for this particular experiment, to be used to measure the spatial density distribution in a standing neutron wave above a mirror for a set of some of the lowest quantum states. The present experiment can be used to set an upper limit for an additional short-range fundamental force. We studied methodological uncertainties as well as the feasibility of improving further the accuracy of this experiment.

PACS
03.65
28.20

Correspondence: nesvizhevsky@ill.fr


© Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2005


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