News & Events
HEPL / KIPAC Seminar
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Michael Hohensee
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Experimental Tests of Lorentz Invariance and the Einstein Equivalence Principle
Abstract: Lorentz Invariance, often described as the Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) in general relativity, is fundamental to our modernunderstanding of physics. Consequently, it has long been subject to stringent experimental tests-first to verify the general validity of both models, and more recently to search for hints of new physics.
This talk will review the current status of experimental constraints on EEP-violation in the context of the Standard Model Extension, a phenomenological framework that can consistently describe small EEP-violating deviations from general relativity and the standard model. We will outline promising areas for future investigation, and describe some exciting new experiments using trapped ions which can test EEP for electrons with orders of magnitude more sensitivity than previous tests.
Bio: PhD from Harvard University in 2009, where he studied quantum memories, atomic frequency standards, and on novel tests of Lorentz invariance using light with Ron Walsworth at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Time: 4:00pm – 5:15pm
Location: Varian Physics Lab, Conference Room #355 (Map)
(Light refreshments available 4:00pm; Presentation begins at 4:15pm)
Open to All
