The Inverse-Square Law at Micron Separations: What Short-Range Experiments Leave for a Torsional Force
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Newton's inverse-square law has been verified directly down to separations of 55 micrometres (Kapner et al. 2007). A Yukawa force of gravitational strength and range equal to the separation would distort the force there by a fraction 0.74, and at twice its range by 0.41 - distortions the torsion-balance data exclude for the corresponding strengths, as the companion exclusion analysis tabulates. This paper works through the deviation arithmetic itself: how a Yukawa term's signature scales with separation, why experiments pattern their test masses to cancel the Newtonian term while preserving the Yukawa one, and what residual room remains for a torsional force whose range is tied to its mediator's mass. Computed, not measured.
Author: Aldred, William Alexander
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225792369
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