An Improved Test of the General Relativistic Effect of Frame-Dragging Using the LARES and LAGEOS Satellites

TL;DR

This study provides an improved measurement of the frame-dragging effect predicted by General Relativity, using extensive satellite laser ranging data and advanced Earth gravity models, confirming the theory within a few percent accuracy.

Contribution

It presents a more precise test of frame-dragging by combining long-term satellite data with refined Earth gravity field models, reducing systematic errors compared to previous measurements.

Findings

Frame-dragging measured at 0.9910 +/- 0.02 times the predicted value.

Measurement confirms General Relativity's prediction within a few percent.

Utilizes 7 years of LARES data and 26 years of LAGEOS data with advanced gravity models.

Abstract

We report the improved test of frame-dragging, an intriguing phenomenon predicted by Einstein's General Relativity, obtained using 7 years of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) data of the satellite LARES (ASI, 2012) and 26 years of SLR data of LAGEOS (NASA, 1976) and LAGEOS 2 (ASI and NASA, 1992). We used the static part and temporal variations of the Earth gravity field obtained by the space geodesy mission GRACE (NASA and DLR) and in particular the static Earth's gravity field model GGM05S augmented by a model for the 7-day temporal variations of the lowest degree Earth spherical harmonics. We used the orbital estimator GEODYN (NASA). We measured frame-dragging to be equal to 0.9910 +/- 0.02, where 1 is the theoretical prediction of General Relativity normalized to its frame-dragging value and +/- 0.02 is the estimated systematic error due to modelling errors in the orbital perturbations, mainly due to the errors in the Earth's gravity field determination. Therefore, our measurement confirms the prediction of General Relativity for frame-dragging with a few percent uncertainty.