Quantized Casimir Force

We investigate the Casimir effect between two-dimensional electron systems driven to the quantum Hall regime by a strong perpendicular magnetic field. In the large separation (d) limit where retardation effects are essential we find i) that the Casimir force is quantized in units of 3\hbar c \alpha^2/(8\pi^2 d^4), and ii) that the force is repulsive for mirrors with same type of carrier, and attractive for mirrors with opposite types of carrier. The sign of the Casimir force is therefore electrically tunable in ambipolar materials like graphene. The Casimir force is suppressed when one mirror is a charge-neutral graphene system in a filling factor \nu=0 quantum Hall state.Comment: 4.2 page

Constraints on Light Pseudoscalars Implied by Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law

The exchange of light pseudoscalars between fermions leads to a spin-independent potential in order g^4, where g is the Yukawa pseudoscalar-fermion coupling constant. This potential gives rise to detectable violations of both the weak equivalence principle (WEP) and the gravitational inverse-square law (ISL), even if g is quite small. We show that when previously derived WEP constraints are combined with those arisingfrom ISL tests, a direct experimental limit on the Yukawa coupling of light pseudoscalars to neutrons can be inferred for the first time (g_n^2/4pi < 1.6 \times 10^-7), along with a new (and significantly improved) limit on the coupling of light pseudoscalars to protons.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, with 1 Postscript figure (submitted to Physical Review Letters

Evidence for Solar Influences on Nuclear Decay Rates

Recent reports of periodic fluctuations in nuclear decay data of certain isotopes have led to the suggestion that nuclear decay rates are being influenced by the Sun, perhaps via neutrinos. Here we present evidence for the existence of an additional periodicity that appears to be related to the Rieger periodicity well known in solar physics.Comment: Presented at the Fifth Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry, Bloomington, Indiana, June 28-July 2, 201