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The Confrontation Between General Relativity and Experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2008

A. Oscoz ,
E. Mediavilla ,
M. Serra-Ricart  and
C.M. Will
C.M. Will*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences Washington University, St. Louis MO, USA
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Abstract

We review the experimental evidence for Einstein's special and general relativity. A variety of high precision null experimentsverify the weak equivalence principle and local Lorentz invariance,while gravitational redshift and other clock experiments support localposition invariance. Together these results confirm theEinstein Equivalence Principle which underlies the concept thatgravitation must bedescribed by a metric theory.Solar system experiments that test the weak-field, post-Newtonianlimit of metric theories strongly favorgeneral relativity. The BinaryPulsar provides tests of gravitational-wave dampingand of strong-field general relativity. Recently discovered binarypulsar systems may provide additional tests. Ongoing and futureexperiments, such as the Gravity Probe B GyroscopeExperiment, satellite tests of the Equivalence principle, and tests ofgravity at short distance to look for extra spatial dimensions could constrain extensions of general relativity.Laser interferometricgravitational-wave observatories on Earth and in space may provide new testsof gravitational theory via detailed measurements of the properties of gravitational waves.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 30: Spanish Relativity Meeting - Encuentros Relativistas Españoles, ERE2007: Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology , 2008 , pp. 3 - 13
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2008

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