The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force Discovery, Pursuit, and Justifi

This book provides the reader with a detailed and captivating account of the story where, for the first time, physicists ventured into proposing a new force of nature beyond the four known ones - the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces, and gravitatio

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The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification in Modern Physics Second Edition

The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force

Allan Franklin • Ephraim Fischbach

The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification in Modern Physics Second Edition

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Ephraim Fischbach Department of Physics and Astronomy Purdue University West Lafayette Indiana, USA

Allan Franklin Department of Physics University of Colorado Boulder Colorado, USA

ISBN 978-3-319-28411-8 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-28412-5

ISBN 978-3-319-28412-5 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016933674 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Preface to the Second Edition

It might seem odd to publish a second edition of a book that deals with an episode in science, the existence of a Fifth Force, that was presumably decided more than 20 years ago. The primary reason for this is the availability of a first-person account of the origin of that hypothesis by one of its proposers. We believe that such an account provides interesting and important insights into the practice of physics, which are not usually available in standard historical accounts. This also provides us with an opportunity to discuss the idea that wrong science is not necessarily bad science. As the subsequent history shows, that hypothesis led to interesting and important experiment and theoretical work, even after its supposed demise. Boulder, USA West Lafayette, USA October 2015

Allan Franklin Ephraim Fischbach

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Preface to the First Edition

On January 8, 1986, The New York Times announced, “Hints of Fifth Force in Nature Challenge Galileo’s Findings.” In January 1990, at an informal discussion meeting, which included many of those working on the Fif