The Gravitational Constant: Generalized Gravitational Theories and Experiments

Download or read book The Gravitational Constant: Generalized Gravitational Theories and Experiments written by V. de Sabbata and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-03-31 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An up-to-date description of progress and current problems with the gravitational constant, both in terms of generalized gravitational theories and experiments either in the laboratory, using Casimir force measurements, or in space at solar system distances and in cosmological observations. Contributions cover different aspects of the state and prediction of unified theories of the physical interactions including gravitation as a cardinal link, the role of experimental gravitation and observational cosmology in discriminating between them, the problem of the precise measurement and stability of fundamental physical constants in space and time, and the gravitational constant in particular. Recent advances discussed include unified and scalar-tensor theories, theories in diverse dimensions and their observational windows, gravitational experiments in space, rotational and torsional effects in gravity, basic problems in cosmology, early universe as an arena for testing unified models, and big bang nucleosynthesis.