Related papers: The First Lunar Ranging Constraints on Gravity Sec…
This paper provides an overview of the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiments. The measurement principle is explained and its theory is derived. Both contributions, the direct reflected light from retroreflectors as well as the scattered…
In dark energy models where a scalar field $\phi$ is coupled to the Ricci scalar $R$ of the form $e^{-2Q (\phi-\phi_0)/M_{\rm pl}}R$, where $Q$ is a coupling constant, $\phi_0$ is today's value of $\phi$, and $M_{\rm pl}$ is the reduced…
Generic violations of Lorentz symmetry can be described by an effective field theory framework that contains both general relativity and the standard model of particle physics called the Standard-Model Extension (SME). We obtain new…
Precise measurements of the Earth-Moon distance by the lunar laser ranging (LLR), which begun in the early 1970's, contributed significantly to geodesy, geophysics, and lunar planetology, as well as enabled astrophysicists to perform…
The speed of laser light pulses launched from Earth and returned by a retro-reflector on the Moon was calculated from precision round-trip time-of-flight measurements and modeled distances. The measured speed of light (c) in the moving…
General violations of Lorentz symmetry can be described by the Standard-Model Extension (SME) framework. The SME predicts modifications to existing physics and can be tested in high-precision experiments. By looking for small deviations…
Since 1969, Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data have been collected by various observatories and analysed by different analysis groups. In the recent years, observations with bigger telescopes (APOLLO) and at infra-red wavelength (OCA) are…
Lorentz symmetry violations can be described by an effective field theory framework that contains both General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics called the Standard-Model extension (SME). Recently, post-fit analysis of…
In this talk, results from the gravitational sector of the Standard-Model Extension (SME) are discussed. The weak-field phenomenology of the resulting modified gravitational field equations is explored. The application of the results to a…
LLR measures the distance between observatories on Earth and retro-reflectors on Moon since 1969. In this paper, we study the possible violation of the equality of passive and active gravitational mass ($m_{a}/m_{p}$), for Aluminium (Al)…
More than 30 years of lunar laser ranging has produced several key tests of gravitational theory, including confirmation that bodies fall in external gravity at rates independent of their internal gravitational binding energy, and that…
Analysis of Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data provides science results: gravitational physics and ephemeris information from the orbit, lunar science from rotation and solid-body tides, and Earth science. Sensitive tests of gravitational…
LLR measures the distance between observatories on Earth and retro-reflectors on Moon since 1969. In this paper, we estimate the Earth Rotation Parameters (ERP; terrestrial pole offsets, $x_p$ and $y_p$, and Earth rotation phase,…
Lorentz symmetry (LS), one of the most fundamental physical symmetries, has been extensively studied in the context of quantum gravity and unification theories. Many of these theories predict a LS violation, which could arise from the…
Lorentz symmetry is one of the pillars of both General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics. Motivated by ideas about quantum gravity, unification theories and violations of CPT symmetry, a significant effort has been put…
Laser pulses fired at retroreflectors on the Moon provide very accurate ranges. Analysis yields information on Earth, Moon, and orbit. The highly accurate retroreflector positions have uncertainties less than a meter. Tides on the Moon show…
Current and future optical technologies will aid exploration of the Moon and Mars while advancing fundamental physics research in the solar system. Technologies and possible improvements in the laser-enabled tests of various physical…
Violations of Lorentz invariance that appear via operators of dimension four or less are completely parameterized in the Standard Model Extension (SME). In the pure photonic sector of the SME, there are nineteen dimensionless,…
Lunar laser ranging has provided many of the best tests of gravitation since the first Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon. The march to higher precision continues to this day, now entering the millimeter regime, and promising continued…
The Standard-Model Extension (SME) provides a comprehensive effective field-theory framework for the study of CPT and Lorentz symmetry. This work reviews the structure and philosophy of the SME and provides some intuitive examples of…