Constraints on Spatially Oscillating Sub-mm Forces from the Stanford Levitated Microsphere Experiment Data

Understand

A recent analysis by one of the authors\cite{Perivolaropoulos:2016ucs} has indicated the presence of a $2\sigma$ signal of spatially oscillating new force residuals in the torsion balance data of the Washington experiment.

• We extend that study and analyse the data of the Stanford Optically Levitated Microsphere Experiment (SOLME) \cite{Rider:2016xaq} (kindly provided by the authors of \cite{Rider:2016xaq}) searching for sub-mm spatially oscillating new force signals.
• We find a statistically significant oscillating signal for a force residual of the form $F(z)=\alpha \; cos(\frac{2\pi}{\lambda}\; z +c)$ where $z$ is the distance between the macroscopic interacting masses (levitated microsphere and cantilever).
• The best fit parameter values are $\alpha=(1.1 \pm 0.4)\times 10^{-17}N$, $\lambda=(35.2\pm 0.6)\mu m$.