Does Newton's gravitational constant vary sinusoidally with time? orbital motions say no

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/33/4/045004MaRDI QIDQ2807412zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors L. Iorio

Publication date 20 May 2016

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1504.07233

zbMATH Keywords

calendarsexperimental tests of gravitational theoriesalmanacasephermeridesexperimental stdies of gravity

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Galactic and stellar dynamics (85A05) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05) Celestial mechanics (70F15) Observational and experimental questions in relativity and gravitational theory (83B05)

Abstract: A sinusoidally time-varying pattern of the values of the Newton's constant of gravitation $G$ measured in Earth-based laboratories over the latest decades has been recently reported in the literature. We put to the test the hypothesis that the aforementioned harmonic variation may pertain $G$ itself in a direct and independent way. We numerically integrated the ad-hoc modified equations of motion of the major bodies of the Solar System by finding that the orbits of the planets would be altered by an unacceptably larger amount in view of the present-day high accuracy astrometric measurements. In the case of Saturn, its geocentric right ascension $alpha$, declination $delta$ and range $ho$ would be affected up to $10^4-10^5$ milliarcseconds and $10^5$ km, respectively; the present-day residuals of such observables are as little as about $4$ milliarcseconds and $10^{-1}$ km, respectively. extcolor{black}{We analytically calculated the long-term orbital effects induced by the putative harmonic variation of $G$ at hand finding non-zero rates of change for the semimajor axis $a$, the eccentricity $e$ and the argument of pericenter $omega$ of a test particle. For the LAGEOS satellite, an orbital increase as large as $3.9$ m yr${}^{-1}$ is predicted, in contrast with the observed decay of $-0.203pm0.035$ m yr${}^{-1}$. An anomalous perihelion precession as large as 14 arcseconds per century is implied for Saturn, while latest observations constrain it down to the $10^{-4}$ arcseconds per century level. The rejection level provided by Mercury is of the same order of magnitude.

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Cited in

(14)

• Observational constraints on spatial anisotropy of \(G\) from orbital motions
• Lower bounds of characteristic scale of topological modification of the Newtonian gravitation
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• Faint Young sun, planetary paleoclimates and varying fundamental constants
• Planetary motion on an expanding locally anisotropic background
• Oscillating gravity, non-singularity and mass quantization from Moffat stochastic gravity arguments
• Tests for varying \(G\)
• A search for laws in the results of gravitational constant measurements
• Spectral analysis for gravitational constant measurements
• Stochastic motion of test particle implies that \(G\) varies with time
• Solar system planetary tests of \({\dot c/c}\)
• Temporal variation of Earth-based gravitational constant measurements
• Time dependent gravitational potential in the universe and some consequences
• Time variation of the gravitational constant and secular evolution of the orbit of binary stars

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