The gravitomagnetic clock effect and its possible observation

TL;DR

This paper discusses the gravitomagnetic clock effect predicted by general relativity, compares it to electromagnetic analogues, and examines how Earth's environment might influence potential measurements of this effect.

Contribution

It introduces a simple electromagnetic analogue of the gravitomagnetic clock effect and analyzes environmental perturbations affecting its observation near Earth.

Findings

Electromagnetic analogue of the clock effect at order c^-2

Assessment of terrestrial perturbations on measurement accuracy

Potential for observing the effect in Earth's gravitational field

Abstract

The general relativistic gravitomagnetic clock effect involves a coupling between the orbital motion of a test particle and the rotation of the central mass and results in a difference in the proper periods of two counter-revolving satellites. It is shown that at O(c^-2) this effect has a simple analogue in the electromagnetic case. Moreover, in view of a possible measurement of the clock effect in the gravitational field of the Earth, we investigate the influence of some classical perturbing forces of the terrestrial space environment on the orbital motion of test bodies along opposite trajectories.