Recent Improvements in Testing General Relativity with Satellite Laser Ranging

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in testing general relativity using satellite laser ranging, focusing on measuring relativistic effects like frame-dragging and gravitational shifts with geodetic satellites.

Contribution

It introduces improved methods and analyses for detecting relativistic effects and proposes a modified LARES mission to measure PPN parameters with higher precision.

Findings

Detection of Lense-Thirring effect with improved accuracy

Proposed measurement of PPN parameters beta and gamma at 10^-3 level

Analysis of systematic errors affecting satellite-based tests

Abstract

In this work some aspects of the detection of certain general relativistic effects in the weak gravitational field of the Earth via laser-ranged data to some existing or proposed geodetic satellites are examined. The focus is on the Lense-Thirring drag of the orbit of a test body, the gravitomagnetic clock effect and the gravitoelectric perigee shift. The impact of some sources of systematic errors is investigated. An experiment whose goal is the measurement of the PPN parameters beta and gamma in the terrestrial field with LAGEOS satellites at a level of 10^(-3)is presented. A modified version of the proposed LARES mission is examined.