The Possible Detection of Dark Energy on Earth Using Atom Interferometry

This paper describes the concept and the beginning of an experimental investigation of whether it is possible to directly detect dark energy density on earth using atom interferometry. The concept is to null out the gravitational force using a double interferometer. This research provides a non-astronomical path for research on dark energy. The application of this method to other hypothetical weak forces and fields is also discussed. In the the final section I discuss the advantages of carrying out a dark energy density search in a satellite in earth orbit where more precise nulling of gravitational forces can be achieved

Hard breakup of the deuteron into two Delta-isobars

We study high energy photodisintegration of the deuteron into two $\Delta$-isobars at large center of mass angles within the QCD hard rescattering model (HRM). According to the HRM, the process develops in three main steps: the photon knocks the quark from one of the nucleons in the deuteron; the struck quark rescatters off a quark from the other nucleon sharing the high energy of the photon; then the energetic quarks recombine into two outgoing baryons which have large transverse momenta. Within the HRM, the cross section is expressed through the amplitude of $pn\rightarrow \Delta\Delta$ scattering which we evaluated based on the quark-interchange model of hard hadronic scattering. Calculations show that the angular distribution and the strength of the photodisintegration is mainly determined by the properties of the $pn\rightarrow \Delta\Delta$ scattering. We predict that the cross section of the deuteron breakup to $\Delta^{++}\Delta^{-}$ is 4-5 times larger than that of the breakup to the $\Delta^{+}\Delta^{0}$ channel. Also, the angular distributions for these two channels are markedly different. These can be compared with the predictions based on the assumption that two hard $\Delta$-isobars are the result of the disintegration of the preexisting $\Delta\Delta$ components of the deuteron wave function. In this case, one expects the angular distributions and cross sections of the breakup in both $\Delta^{++}\Delta^{-}$ and $\Delta^{+}\Delta^{0}$ channels to be similar.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

A New Method for Searching for Free Fractional Charge Particles in Bulk Matter

We present a new experimental method for searching for free fractional charge in bulk matter; this new method derives from the traditional Millikan liquid drop method, but allows the use of much larger drops, 20 to 100 mm in diameter, compared to the traditional method that uses drops less than 15 mm in diameter. These larger drops provide the substantial advantage that it is then much easier to consistently generate drops containing liquid suspensions of powdered meteorites and other special minerals. These materials are of great importance in bulk searches for fractional charge particles that may have been produced in the early universe.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures in a singl PDF file (created from WORD Doc.). Submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument

Search for Free Fractional Electric Charge Elementary Particles

We have carried out a direct search in bulk matter for free fractional electric charge elementary particles using the largest mass single sample ever studied - about 17.4 mg of silicone oil. The search used an improved and highly automated Millikan oil drop technique. No evidence for fractional charge particles was found. The concentration of particles with fractional charge more than 0.16e (e being the magnitude of the electron charge) from the nearest integer charge is less than $4.71\times10^{-22}$ particles per nucleon with 95% confidence.Comment: 10 pages,LaTeX, 4 PS figures, submitted to PR