In our day-to-day life, we can accurately reach for an object in our gravitational environment without any effort. This can be achieved even when the body is tilted relative to gravity. This is accomplished by the central nervous system (CNS) compensation for gravitational forces and torque acting on the upper limbs, based on the magnitude of body tilt. The present study investigated how perfor...

CLIO (Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory) is a Japanese gravitational wave detector project. One of the main purposes of CLIO is to demonstrate thermal-noise suppression by cooling mirrors for a future Japanese project, LCGT (Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational Telescope). The CLIO site is in Kamioka mine, as is LCGT. The progress of CLIO between 2005 and 2007 (roomand cryogenic-tempera...

A new generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors, currently under construction, will closely approach the fundamental quantum limits of measurement, serving as a prominent example of quantum mechanics at the macroscale. Simultaneously, numerous experiments involving micro-mechanical oscillators are beginning to explore the quantum regime, with the help of optical cooling techniq...

Pikovski et al. [Nat. Phys. 11, 668 (2015)] show that a composite particle prepared in a pure initial quantum state and propagated in a uniform gravitational field undergoes a decoherence process at a rate determined by the gravitational acceleration. By assuming Einstein's equivalence principle to be valid, we analyze a physical realization of the (1+1)D thought experiment of Pikovski et al. t...

INTRODUCTION Recent work indicates mechanical stimulation of soles may attenuate muscle atrophy initiated by gravitational unloading, including that experienced during spaceflight. The aim of the present study was to determine the modulating effect of unloading and body configurations on the neuromuscular response to mechanical foot stimulation. METHODS A solenoid (2.5-cm2 surface area) embed...

The Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices (ASTROD) mission consists of three spacecraft in separate solar orbits and carries out laser interferometric ranging. ASTROD aims at testing relativistic gravity, measuring the solar system and detecting gravitational waves. Because of the larger arm length, the sensitivity of ASTROD to gravitational waves is estimated to be abou...

Spontaneous emission of graviton rates for the quantum bouncer states are evaluated. The quantum problem of a ball bouncing above a ideal mirror was considered a long time ago, however just as a mere exercise of elementary quantum mechanics. Things did change since the quantization of energy of Ultra Cold Neutrons (UCN) bouncing above a mirror in the Earth’s gravitational field had been demonst...