Dark energy detection at the Einstein-Elevator using atom interferometry

Dark energy constitutes ~70% of the universe, which explains the observed accelerated expansion of the universe. It is conjectured that it is a new scalar field that interacts normal matter at the cosmological scale. Recently, cold atom experiments in laboratory have contributed significantly on the constraints of scalar-field models such as chameleon and symmetron. These experiments are currently limited by the knowledge of the Newtonian gravity of the test masses. In this talk, we will present a joint project of D3E3/DESIRE between JPL and Leibniz University Hannover, in which atom interferometers will be implemented in the four-second microgravity environment in the drop tower of the Einstein-Elevator facility at the Hannover Institute of Technology, Germany. We will illustrate the measurement concept for constraining dark energy models, and report the progress of the joint effort. This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the NASA. The DESIRE project is supported by the German Space Agency DLR with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).