Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:33:05.539Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Testing the weak equivalence principle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2010

Anna M. Nobili ,
Gian Luca Comandi ,
Raffaello Pegna ,
Donato Bramanti ,
Suresh Doravari ,
Francesco Maccarone  and
David M. Lucchesi
Anna M. Nobili
Affiliation:
Department of Physics “E. Fermi”, University of Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy email: [email protected] INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
Gian Luca Comandi
Affiliation:
INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
Raffaello Pegna
Affiliation:
INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
Donato Bramanti
Affiliation:
Department of Physics “E. Fermi”, University of Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy email: [email protected]
Suresh Doravari
Affiliation:
Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Francesco Maccarone
Affiliation:
Department of Physics “E. Fermi”, University of Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy email: [email protected] INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
David M. Lucchesi
Affiliation:
INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy INAF-IFSI Istituto Nazionale di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Roma, Italy
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The discovery of Dark Energy and the fact that only about 5% of the mass of the universe can be explained on the basis of the current laws of physics have led to a serious impasse. Based on past history, physics might indeed be on the verge of major discoveries; but the challenge is enormous. The way to tackle it is twofold. On one side, scientists try to perform large scale direct observations and measurements – mostly from space. On the other, they multiply their efforts to put to the most stringent tests ever the physical theories underlying the current view of the physical world, from the very small to the very large. On the extremely small scale very exciting results are expected from one of the most impressive experiments in the history of mankind: the Large Hadron Collider. On the very large scale, the universe is dominated by gravity and the present impasse undoubtedly calls for more powerful tests of General Relativity – the best theory of gravity to date. Experiments testing the Weak Equivalence Principle, on which General Relativity ultimately lies, have the strongest probing power of them all; a breakthrough in sensitivity is possible with the “Galileo Galilei” (GG) satellite experiment to fly in low Earth orbit.

Keywords

GravitationLarge-scale structure of universe
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S261: Relativity in Fundamental Astronomy: Dynamics, Reference Frames, and Data Analysis , April 2009 , pp. 390 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

Baeßler Heckel, B. R., Adelberger, E. G., Gundlach, J. H., Schimidt, U., & Swanson, H. E. 1999, Phys. Rev. Lett., 83, 3585Google Scholar
Bennet, C. et al. , 2003, Ap. J. Suppl., 148, 1Google Scholar
Bertotti, B., Iess, L., & Tortora, P. 2003, Nature, 425, 374CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braginsky, V. B. & Panov, V. I. 1972, Sov. Phys. JEPT, 34, 463Google Scholar
Bramanti, D. et al. 1993, in STEP Symposium, ESA WPP-115, 319. http://eotvos.dm.unipi.it/galileo_and_uffGoogle Scholar
Comandi, G. L., Toncelli, R., Chiofalo, M. L., Bramanti, D., & Nobili, A. M. 2006, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 77, 034501Google Scholar
Comandi, G. L., Chiofalo, M. L., Toncelli, R., Bramanti, D., Polacco, E., & Nobili, A. M. 2006, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 77, 034502Google Scholar
Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century 2003, Board on Physics and Astronomy (The National Academic Press)Google Scholar
Damour, T. 1996, Class. Quantum Grav., 13, A33Google Scholar
Damour, T. & Polyakov, A. M. 1994, Gen. Relativ. Gravit., 26, 1171CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damour, T., Piazza, F., & Veneziano, G. 2002, Phys. Rev. D, 66, 046007Google Scholar
de Bernardis, P. et al. , 2000, Nature, 404, 955CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimopoulos, S., Graham, P. W., Hogan, J. M., & Kasevich, M. A. 2007, Phys. Rev. Lett., 98, 111102Google Scholar
Einstein, A. 1907, Jahrb. Radioaktiv., 4, 411Google Scholar
Einstein, A. 1916, Annalen der Physik, 49, 769CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eëtvës, R. V., Pekar, D., & Fekete, E. 1916, Annalen der Physik, 68, 11Google Scholar
Ertmer, W. et al. , 2009, Exp Astron., 23, 611CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbach, E., Sudarsky, D., Szafer, A., Talmadge, C., & Aronson, S. H. 1986, Phys. Rev. Lett., 56, 2426CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fray, S., AlvarezDiez, C. Diez, C., Hänsch, T. W., & Weitz, M. 2004, Phys. Rev. Lett., 93, 240404Google Scholar
GG Website http://eotvos.dm.unipi.itGoogle Scholar
Glanz, J. 1998, Science, 282, 2156CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOCE Website http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/GOCE/Google Scholar
Iafolla, V., Lorenzini, E. C., Milyukov, V., & Nozzoli, S. 1998, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 69, 4146CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kowal, C. T. & Drake, S. 1980, Nature, 28, 311Google Scholar
Kramer, M., et al. , 2006, Science, 314, 97Google Scholar
Kramer, M. & Wex, N. 2009, Class. Quantum Grav., 26, 073001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
μSCOPE Website http://smsc.cnes.fr/MICROSCOPE/Google Scholar
Mueller, H., Chiow, S., Herrmann, S., Chu, S., & Chung, K.-Y. 2008, Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 021101Google Scholar
Murphy, M. et al. , 2007, Int. J. Mod. Phys. D, 16, 2127Google Scholar
Nobili, A. M. & Will, C. M. 1986, Nature, 320, 39Google Scholar
Nobili, A. M. et al. , 1999, Class. Quantum Grav., 16, 1463Google Scholar
Nobili, A. M., Bramanti, D., Comandi, G. L., Toncelli, R., Polacco, E., & Catastini, G. 2001, Phys. Rev. D, 63, 101101(R)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nobili, A. M., Comandi, G. L., Bramanti, D., Doravari, S., Lucchesi, D. M., & Maccarrone, F. 2008, Gen. Rel. Grav., 40, 1533CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nobili, A. M. et al. , 2009, Exp. Astr., 23, 689Google Scholar
Peters, A., Chung, K. Y., & Chu, S. 1999, Nature, 400, 849Google Scholar
Peters, A., Chung, K. Y., & Chu, S. 2001, Metrologia, 38, 25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Report of the Dark Energy Task Force 2006 http://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/aaac/dark_energy_task_force/report/detf_final_report.pdfGoogle Scholar
Reasenberg, R.D. 2008, Q2C3 International Workshop, Airlie Center, Virginia USA http://funphysics.jpl.nasa.gov/Q2C3/programGoogle Scholar
Roll, P. G., Krotkov, R., & Dicke, R. H. 1964, Annals of Physics, 26, 442Google Scholar
Schlamminger, S., Choi, K.-Y., Wagner, T. A., Gundlach, J. H., & Adelberger, E. G 2008, Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 041101Google Scholar
Standish, E. M. & Nobili, A. M. 1997, Baltic Astronomy, 6, 97Google Scholar
STEP Website http://einstein.stanford.edu/STEP/Google Scholar
Su, Y., Heckel, B. R., Adelberger, E. G., Gundlach, J. H., Harris, M., Smith, G. L., & Swanson, H. E. 1994, Phys. Rev. D, 50, 3614CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Will, C. M. 2006, Living Reviews in Relativity, 9, 3Google Scholar
Williams, J. G., Turyshev, S. G., & Boggs, D. H. 2004, Phys. Rev. Lett., 93, 261101Google Scholar