Violation of the Weak Equivalence Principle in Bekenstein's Theory

Abstract

Bekenstein has shown that violation of Weak Equivalence Principle is strongly supressed in his model of charge variation. In this paper, it is shown that nuclear magnetic energy is large enough to produce observable effects in Eötvös experiments.

Magnetic contributions in Bekenstein type models

“…We obtained that the results are similar to the ones published in Ref. [2] which were computed using the zero order of the approximation, showing that one can neglect the first order contribution to the variation of the fine structure constant. By the comparison between our theoretical results and the observational data of the Eötvös-type experiments or the time variation of α over cosmological time-scale, we set constrains on the free parameter of the Bekenstein model, namely the Bekenstein length.…”

“…The bounds on ℓB ℓP 2 obtained in Ref. [2] using the data of the most accurate versions of the Eötvös experiment presented in Table I, are…”

“…Bekenstein proposed a theory to study the fine structure constant variability based on first principles [28] and later, he claimed that no violations of WEP are perceived whereas a possible time variation of α can not be discarded with the existed observable bounds [1]. Kraiselburd & Vucetich [2] modified Bekenstein's original theory by replacing the classical model of charged particles by a quantum model of many bodies at the non-relativistic limit, but with classical fields and neglecting the contributions of the self-generated fields. They found that even considering the cancellation proposed by Bekenstein, between the electric field and the mass source term, quantum density fluctuations produce fluctuating electric currents which generate magnetic fields.…”

Energy production in varyingαtheories

“…Stationary electric currents generated by charged particles and their static magnetic moments, and quantum fluctuations of the number density are responsible for the generation of magnetic fields in quantum mechanics. These contributions have been studied and calculated by Haugan & Will (1977) and Will (1981) from a minimal nuclear shell model using the following analysis (for more details see Kraiselburd & Vucetich 2011).…”

Beyond Bekenstein’s Theory

“…Stationary electric currents which are generated by charged particles and their static magnetic moments, and quantum fluctuations of the number density are the responsible of the generation of magnetic fields in quantum mechanics. Such contributions have been studied and calculated by [13,28] from a minimal nuclear shell model using the following analysis (for more details see [16]). …”