Constraining Yukawa-type interaction and coupling constant of axionlike particles to nucleons from recent measurement of the Casimir-Polder interaction

TL;DR

This study uses recent Casimir-Polder interaction measurements to set new, tighter constraints on Yukawa-type interactions and axionlike particle couplings to nucleons, especially in the 1-2 nm range.

Contribution

It provides the first constraints on axionlike particles from Casimir-Polder experiments and demonstrates the potential of Casimir effect measurements to improve limits on hypothetical interactions.

Findings

Constraints are up to 33.4 times stronger than previous Casimir force measurements in the 1-2 nm range.

Constraints on axionlike particle couplings are up to 24.2 times stronger than previous Casimir-based limits for certain axion masses.

The study discusses the potential of Casimir effect experiments to further tighten bounds on new physics.

Abstract

We derive constraints on the parameters of the Yukawa-type interaction and on the coupling constant of axionlike particles to nucleons from the results of recent diffraction experiment on measuring the Casimir-Polder interaction between Ar atoms and a silicon nitride nanograting. It is shown that within the interaction range from 1 to 2 nm the obtained constraints are by up to a factor of 33.4 stronger than all the other ones found previously from measurement of the Casimir force. The derived constraints are weaker in strength than those deduced from the experiments on neutron scattering. The constraints on the coupling constants of axionlike particles to nucleons following from the diffraction experiment are up to a factor of 24.2 stronger withing the range of axion masses from 32.4 to 100 eV than the previously derived ones from experiments on measuring the Casimir force. They are weaker only in comparison to the constraints found from the experiment using the beams of molecular hydrogen. The potential of the Casimir effect for obtaining stronger constraints on the parameters of hypothetical interactions is discussed.