Testing Gravity in the Laboratory

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss recent work on precision Earth laboratory tests of different aspects of gravity. In particular the discussion is focused on those tests that can be used to probe hypothesis for physics beyond Newtonian gravity and General Relativity. The latter includes tests of foundations like local Lorentz invariance, Weak-Equivalence Principle tests, short-range gravity tests, gravimeter-type tests, and other frontier possibilities like the free-fall of anti-matter and searches for non-Riemann gravity effects. The focus is on key results in theory, phenomenology, and experiment in the last few decades. We describe the motivations for continued interest in precision tests of gravity in the laboratory, including the possibility to search for physics beyond General Relativity. Test frameworks for describing deviations from General Relativity are emphasized, including ones based on effective field theory, allowing for generic violations of Lorentz symmetry, CPT symmetry, and diffeomorphism symmetry.