Measuring the relativistic perigee advance with satellite laser ranging

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/19/16/306zbMATH Open1013.83500arXivgr-qc/0103088OpenAlexW2001829347MaRDI QIDQ3149338FDOQ3149338

Authors: L. Iorio, Ignazio Ciufolini, Erricos C. Pavlis 

Publication date: 27 June 2003

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

Abstract: One of the most famous classical tests of General Relativity is the gravitoelectric secular advance of the pericenter of a test body in the gravitational field of a central mass. In this paper we explore the possibility of performing a measurement of the gravitoelectric pericenter advance in the gravitational field of the Earth by analyzing the laser-ranged data to some existing, or proposed, laser-ranged geodetic satellites. At the present level of knowledge of various error sources, the relative precision obtainable with the data from LAGEOS and LAGEOS II, suitably combined, is of the order of $10^{m-3}$. Nevertheless, these accuracies could sensibly be improved in the near future when the new data on the terrestrial gravitational field from the CHAMP and GRACE missions will be available. The use of the perigee of LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), in the context of a suitable combination of orbital residuals including also LAGEOS II, should further raise the precision of the measurement. As a secondary outcome of the proposed experiment, with the so obtained value of $ppn$ and with $$ from Lunar Laser Ranging it could be possible to obtain an estimate of the PPN parameters $gamma$ and $$ at the $10^{-2}-10^{-3}$ level.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0103088

zbMATH Keywords

satellite laser rangingrelativistic perigee advance

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Observational and experimental questions in relativity and gravitational theory (83B05)

Cited In (4)

• A preliminary study on Earth and other planets shape determination: comparison of classical and relativistic gravitational effects
• On a new observable for measuring the Lense-Thirring effect with satellite laser ranging
• Measuring the perigee advance of an artificial satellite under the angular momentum and Earth's electromagnetic field influence
• PERSPECTIVES ON MEASURING THE PPN PARAMETERS β AND γ IN EARTH'S GRAVITATIONAL FIELD TO HIGH ACCURACY WITH CHAMP/GRACE MODELS

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