New York – We have the first direct measurement of the gravitational field’s curve thanks to a research group from the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (Lens) of the University of Florence and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). The results were published in the journal “Physical Review Letters” under the title “Measurement of the gravity field curvature by atom interferometry.” The research, a hundred years after the formulation of the theory of general relativity equation, is using an innovative technique based on an atomic interferometer to test Einstein’s gravitation theory. The success of the scientific team, led by Guglielmo Tino, Professor of Material Physics at the University of Florence and INFN researcher, was achieved thanks to a new sensor that uses three quantum atom interferometers positioned to simultaneously measure the effect of a mass on the curvature of the gravitational field. (9Colonne)
