Macroscopic Approach to Test Method for Improving Yukawa-Like Interaction Limits

Yukawa-like interactions arise in many extensions to the standard model. These hypothetical interactions result in a force mediated by a new boson. The potential of a theorized Yukawa-like force between two point masses is $V(r)=-\alpha\frac{Gm_1m_2}{r}e^{-r/\lambda}$, where $G$ is Newton's gravitational constant, $r$ is the separation between the masses, $\alpha$ is the relative strength, and $\lambda$ is the characteristic length of the interaction. Many studies placed limits on $\alpha$ across a wide range of $\lambda$, however for $\lambda$ below 1 $\mu$m, the constraint set on $\alpha$ is poor. A previous study used a spherical test mass; a possible 100-fold improvement to the limit on $\alpha$ in the submicron regime of $\lambda$ may be achieved using a cylindrical test mass. A major challenge in using a cylinder is the alignment of the cylinder with respect to the planar source mass. A scaled up version of the experiment has been constructed to test if the capacitance between a cylinder and a plate can be used to determine the cylinder's alignment. Once the technique is refined it will be used to align a 500 $\mu$m cylinder with the planar source mass. This talk will cover the progress made towards using capacitance as an alignment indicator.