Parity-violating macroscopic force between chiral molecules and source mass

TL;DR

This paper proposes a theoretical model for a macroscopic, chirality-dependent force between a source mass and homochiral molecules, which could violate the equivalence principle due to exchange of light particles.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theory predicting a macroscopic parity-violating force between chiral molecules and source mass, with calculations estimating its magnitude and potential to violate the equivalence principle.

Findings

Force magnitude estimated using published coupling constants

Force has opposite sign for opposite chirality molecules

Potential to violate the equivalence principle in experiments

Abstract

A theory concerning non-zero macroscopic chirality-dependent force between a source mass and homochiral molecules due to the exchange of light particles is presented in this paper. This force is proposed to have opposite sign for molecules with opposite chirality. Using the central field approximation, we calculate this force between a copper block and a vessel of chiral molecules (methyl phenyl carbinol nitrite). The magnitude of force is estimated with the published limits of the scalar and pseudo-scalar coupling constants. Based on our theoretical model, this force may violate the equivalence principle when the homochiral molecules are used to be the test masses.