New constraints on Yukawa-type interactions from the Casimir effect

Abstract

Measurements of the Casimir force are used to obtain stronger constraints on the parameters of hypothetical interactions predicted in different unification schemes beyond the Standard Model. We review new strong constraints on the Yukawa-type interactions derived during the last two years from recent experiments on measuring the lateral Casimir force, Casimir force in configurations with corrugated boundaries and the Casimir-Polder force. Specifically, from measurements of the lateral Casimir force compared with the exact theory the strengthening of constraints up to a factor of 24 millions was achieved. We also discuss further possibilities to strengthen constraints on the Yukawa interactions from the Casimir effect.

Comments: Plenary talk at the 10th International Conference "Quantum Field Theory Under the Influence of External Conditions" (Benasque, Spain, 2011); 15 pages, 7 figures