The physics of detecting torsion and placing limits on its effects

Abstract

We present the essential principles of torsion-detection physics and evaluate several conceivable types of experiments and observations for actually detecting torsion fields, reemphasizing also the evident impossibility of successfully searching for its manifestations among cosmological relics. In particular, a polarized body, with net intrinsic (fundamental-particle) spin, is essential for detecting a torsion field. One which possesses only orbital angular momentum—rotation—or an unpolarized intrinsic spin density will not feel torsion. The fundamental problem in searching for such fields is the extremely small basic unit of the coupling or interaction energy between the torsion field and spin,ɛ≈(8πG′/c ²)(ℏ ²/4). The best way of maximizing the total interaction energy is to increase the spin density of the sourceσ _s, and, at the same time the “spin number”S _D of the detector.