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GR: Fachverband Gravitation, Relativistische Astrophysik und Kosmologie

GR 13: Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology I

GR 13.1: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 13:45–14:00, KH 02.012

Measurement of the Casimir force during free fall — •Sascha Kulas — International University of Applied Sciences (IU), Schiffgraben 49-51, 30175 Hannover, Germany

The Casimir effect is an attractive interaction between two uncharged and perfectly conducting plates held a short distance apart. Its force still has a lot of unknown aspects. Here, this force is measured in a tuning fork experiment during free fall and compared with a measurement on ground. It seems like the Casimir force is strongly suppressed during free fall. This is a hint that the Casimir force does not have its origin in the Van der Waals force, which would not change in weightlessness. In the next step, drop tower experiments have to proof the results. In addition, a physical toy model is introduced, that explains these experimental results and further effects concerning gravity and quantum mechanics.

Keywords: Casimir force; Gravity; Dark energy; Cosmological constant problem; Vacuum fluctuations