Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T20:37:03.651Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Astronomical tests of relativity: beyond parameterized post-Newtonian formalism (PPN), to testing fundamental principles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2010

Vladik Kreinovich
Vladik Kreinovich*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA email: [email protected]
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.

By the early 1970s, the improved accuracy of astrometric and time measurements enabled researchers not only to experimentally compare relativistic gravity with the Newtonian predictions, but also to compare different relativistic gravitational theories (e.g., the Brans-Dicke Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravitation). For this comparison, Kip Thorne and others developed the Parameterized Post-Newtonian Formalism (PPN), and derived the dependence of different astronomically observable effects on the values of the corresponding parameters.

Since then, all the observations have confirmed General Relativity. In other words, the question of which relativistic gravitation theory is in the best accordance with the experiments has been largely settled. This does not mean that General Relativity is the final theory of gravitation: it needs to be reconciled with quantum physics (into quantum gravity), it may also need to be reconciled with numerous surprising cosmological observations, etc. It is, therefore, reasonable to prepare an extended version of the PPN formalism, that will enable us to test possible quantum-related modifications of General Relativity.

In particular, we need to include the possibility of violating fundamental principles that underlie the PPN formalism but that may be violated in quantum physics, such as scale-invariance, T-invariance, P-invariance, energy conservation, spatial isotropy violations, etc. In this paper, we present the first attempt to design the corresponding extended PPN formalism, with the (partial) analysis of the relation between the corresponding fundamental physical principles.

Keywords

Gravitationrelativitycelestial mechanicsetc
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. 56 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

Brumberg, V. A. 1991, Essential Relativistic Celestial Mechanics (New York: Taylor and Francis).Google Scholar
Thorne, K. S. & Will, C. M. 1971, Thoretical frameworks for testing relativistic gravity. I. Foundations. Astroph. J., 1971, 163, 595–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Will, C. M. 1993, Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics (London: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Will, C. M. 2001, The confrontation between General Relativity and experiment, Living Reviews in Relativity.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yunes, P. & Pretorius, F. 2009, Dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity: spinning black holes in the slow-rotation approximation, Phys. Rev. D, 79 (8), 084043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar