Search for deviations from the inverse square law of gravity at nm range using a pulsed neutron beam*

Recently published results and ongoing experimental efforts to search for deviations from the inverse square law of gravity at the nanometer length scale using slow neutron scattering from the noble gases will be discussed. Using the pulsed slow neutron beamline BL05 at the Materials and Life Sciences Facility at J-PARC, we measure the neutron momentum transfer (q) dependence of the neutron differential scattering cross section for the noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. By comparison to theory we place an upper bound on the strength of a new interaction as a function of interaction length λ which improves upon existing results in the region λ<0.1nm, and remains competitive in the larger λ region. Ongoing efforts to improve the sensitivity of our method, as well as apply our technique on an apparatus with a larger accessible q range (e.g. BL21 at J-PARC), which would allow for measurement of the so called “neutron-electron scattering length,” will also be discussed.