1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910254635303321

Autore

Franklin Allan

Titolo

The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force : Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification in Modern Physics  / / by Allan Franklin, Ephraim Fischbach

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2016

ISBN

3-319-28412-6

Edizione

[2nd ed. 2016.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (256 p.)

Disciplina

530

Soggetti

Physics

Gravitation

Astronomy

Astronomy—Observations

Physical measurements

Measurement

Philosophy and science

History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics

Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory

Astronomy, Observations and Techniques

Measurement Science and Instrumentation

Philosophy of Science

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preface -- Part I The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force -- Part II Additional Material -- References -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book provides the reader with a detailed and captivating account of the story where, for the first time, physicists ventured into proposing a new force of nature beyond the four known ones - the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces, and gravitation - based entirely on the reanalysis of existing experimental data. Back in 1986, Ephraim Fischbach, Sam Aronson, Carrick Talmadge and their collaborators proposed a modification of Newton’s Law of universal gravitation. Underlying this proposal were three tantalizing pieces of



evidence: 1) an energy dependence of the CP (particle-antiparticle and reflection symmetry) parameters, 2) differences between the measurements of G, the universal gravitational constant, in laboratories and in mineshafts, and 3) a reanalysis of the Eötvos experiment, which had previously been used to show that the gravitational mass of an object and its inertia mass were equal to approximately one part in a billion. The reanalysis revealed that, contrary to Galileo’s position, the force of gravity was in fact very slightly different for different substances. The resulting Fifth Force hypothesis included this composition dependence and also added a small distance dependence to the inverse-square gravitational force. Over the next four years numerous experiments were performed to test the hypothesis. By 1990 there was overwhelming evidence that the Fifth Force, as initially proposed, did not exist. This book discusses how the Fifth Force hypothesis came to be proposed and how it went on to become a showcase of discovery, pursuit and justification in modern physics, prior to its demise. In this new and significantly expanded edition, the material from the first edition is complemented by two essays, one containing Fischbach’s personal reminiscences of the proposal, and a second on the ongoing history and impact of the Fifth Force hypothesis from 1990 to the present. <.