Modelling an Experiment to Measure the Speed of Gravity In Short Distances

Abstract

Abstract An experiment to measure the speed of gravitational signals in short distances has been developed with the goal to study its behaviour as traveling through a medium different from air. The experiment is composed of three sapphire devices suspended in vacuum and cooled down to 4.2 Kelvin. The amplitudes of the central device (detector) is monitored by an ultralow phase noise microwave signal using resonance in the whispering gallery modes. The other two sapphire devices are excited by piezoelectric crystals, which make the two devices vibrate at the same frequency and phase. Between the two vibrating devices and the detector, a different medium will be placed, and then the speed is measured and compared with the case where the medium is pure air. The modelling of the experiment is made assuming the detector as a spring-mass system. The results show that the detection is achievable.