Galileo satellite constellation and extensions to General Relativity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how extensions of General Relativity, such as a cosmological constant and Yukawa potentials, could be detected using Galileo satellite data, assessing their measurable effects.

Contribution

It analyzes the potential for Galileo systems to measure various theoretical modifications to gravity, including parameterized Post-Newtonian effects and additional accelerations.

Findings

Certain extensions of General Relativity could produce observable signals in Galileo data.

The presence of a cosmological constant or Yukawa potential may be detectable with current or future satellite measurements.

The study provides bounds on alternative gravity theories based on satellite observables.

Abstract

We consider the impact of some known extensions of General Relativity in observables that will be available with the Galileo positioning systems, and draw conclusions as to the possibility of measuring them. We specifically address the effects of the presence of a cosmological constant, a Yukawa-like addition to the Newtonian potential, and the existence of an extra, constant acceleration. We also consider the phenomenological impact of a broad class of metric theories, which can be classified through the parameterized Post-Newtonian formalism.