English

Simple precession calculation for Mercury: a linearization approach

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2022-10-27 v1 Physics Education

Abstract

The additional precession of Mercury due to general relativity can be calculated by a method that is no more difficult than solving for the Newtonian orbit. The method relies on linearizing the relativistic orbit equation, is simpler than standard textbook methods, and is closely related to Newton's theorem on revolving orbits. The main result is accurate to all orders in 1c\tfrac{1}{c} for near-circular orbits.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2206.11617,
  title  = {Simple precession calculation for Mercury: a linearization approach},
  author = {Michael J. W. Hall},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.11617},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

4 pages, submitted to Am J Phys

R2 v1 2026-06-24T12:01:33.202Z