A new general relativistic contribution to Mercury's perihelion advance

TL;DR

This paper identifies a new, small but potentially detectable general relativistic effect on Mercury's perihelion precession, arising from relativistic cross-terms and gravitomagnetic interactions, which could be observed by upcoming space missions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel relativistic contribution to Mercury's perihelion advance from cross-terms and gravitomagnetic effects, previously unaccounted for in standard models.

Findings

The new effect is about 100 times larger than the second-post-Newtonian contribution.

It accounts for a few parts in 10^6 of the total perihelion precession.

Potential detectability by the BepiColombo mission.

Abstract

We point out the existence of a new general relativistic contribution to the perihelion advance of Mercury that, while smaller than the contributions arising from the solar quadrupole moment and angular momentum, is 100 times larger than the second-post-Newtonian contribution. It arises in part from relativistic "cross-terms" in the post-Newtonian equations of motion between Mercury's interaction with the Sun and with the other planets, and in part from an interaction between Mercury's motion and the gravitomagnetic field of the moving planets. At a few parts in $10^6$ of the leading general relativistic precession of 42.98 arcseconds per century, these effects are likely to be detectable by the BepiColombo mission to place and track two orbiters around Mercury, scheduled for launch around 2018.