The gravitational constant : generalized gravitational theories and experiments : proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on The Gravitational Constant: Generalised Gravitational Theories and Experiments, Erice, Italy, April 30-May 10, 2003

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. Front Matter....Pages i-xxix Screening and Absorption of Gravitation in Pre-Relativistic and Relativistic Theories....Pages 1-37 Conformal Frames and D-Dimensional Gravity....Pages 39-64 Graviton Exchange and the Gravitational Constant....Pages 65-79 Some Base for Quantum Gravity....Pages 81-111 Brane-inspired models in gravitation and cosmology....Pages 113-137 Experimental Test of a Time-Temperature Formulation of the Uncertainty Principle....Pages 139-147 The Newtonian Gravitational Constant: Present Status and Directions for Future Research....Pages 149-155 Toward testing the fundamental physics by SNIa data....Pages 157-191 Investigation of Schmutzer’s Exact External Spherically Symmetric Static Solution for a Central Body within the Framework of the 5-Dimensional Projective Unified Field Theory....Pages 193-204 On exact solutions in multidimensional gravity with antisymmetric forms....Pages 205-231 5D gravity and the discrepant G measurements....Pages 233-245 2-Component Cosmological Models with Perfect Fluid and Scalar Field: Exact Solutions....Pages 247-268 Constraints on Non-Newtonian Gravity from Recent Casimir Force Measurements....Pages 269-288 Searching for Scalar-Tensor Gravity with Lunar Laser Ranging....Pages 289-311 Is a Hypothetical Long Range Spin Interaction Observable with a Laboratory Detector?....Pages 313-329 Prospects for a Space-Based Determination of G with an Error Below 1 PPM....Pages 331-340 Projective Unified Field Theory Revisited and Adapted to the New Measured Values (WMAP). New Results Refer to Approximate Static Interior and Exterior Solution of a Spherically Symmetric Perfect Fluid Sphere with Applications to Celestial Bodies, Einstein Effects with Particular Treatment of the Perihelion Shift of Mercury Including the Quadrupole Moment of the Sun....Pages 341-380 The Interface of Quantum Mechanics and Gravity....Pages 381-393 Quaternionic Program....Pages 395-409 Back Matter....Pages 411-416 All deviations from the gravitational theories of Newton and Einstein touch fundamental problems of present-day physics and should be examined experimentally.