Testing the Influence of the Gravitational Redshift on the Casimir Effect in Space

TL;DR

This paper proposes a space-based experiment to test how gravitational redshift affects the Casimir effect, potentially revealing new insights into gravity and quantum mechanics interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental approach using a satellite in elliptic orbit to measure gravitational influence on the Casimir effect, requiring advanced technology for high precision.

Findings

The Casimir effect is influenced by gravitational potential variations.

A satellite in elliptic orbit can test this influence.

Future technology could enable detection of the effect around Earth.

Abstract

We show that the Casimir effect should be influenced by variations of the gravitational potential. This could be tested with a satellite in a highly elliptic orbit. Still significant technology development is required to achieve a relative accuracy of $<5 \times 10^{-10}$ necessary to detect the effect around Earth. That may be obtained in the future based on recent concepts for giant casimir forces. Such a space mission could evaluate both the laws of gravitation and quantum mechanics and their interaction. A dedicated mission, Gravity-Probe C, is proposed.