Related papers: Apollo 11 and Fundamental Science
More than a century ago, Albert Einstein presented his general theory of gravitation (GR) to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. One of the predictions of the theory is that not only particles and objects with mass, but also the quanta of…
Einstein's general relativity, as the most successful theory of gravity, is one of the cornerstones of modern physics. However, the experimental tests for gravity in the high energy region are limited. The emerging gravitational-wave…
The confrontation between general relativity (and its theoretically most plausible deviations) and experimental or observational results is summarized. Some discussion is devoted to the various methodologies used in confronting theory and…
The Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) underpins all metric theories of gravity. One of its key aspects is the local position invariance (LPI) of non-gravitational experiments, which is captured by the gravitational red-shift. The iconic…
General relativity can be formulated either as in its original geometrical version (Einstein, 1915) or as a field theory (Feynman, 1962). In the Feynman presentation of Einstein theory an hypothesis concerning the interaction of gravity to…
The neutrino speed measurement experiments are the continuations of the classic light speed measurement experiments have been done in range of the solar planet system (Ole Roemer, 1676), in star system (James Braidely, 1728) and, at last,…
The equivalence principle, that is one of the main pillars of general relativity, is very well tested in the Solar system; however, its validity is more uncertain on cosmological scales, or when dark matter is concerned. This article shows…
According to the Weak Equivalence Principle, all bodies should fall at the same rate in a gravitational field. The MICROSCOPE satellite, launched in April 2016, aims to test its validity at the $10^{-15}$ precision level, by measuring the…
We outline here the design, execution, and educational outcomes of an intervention inspired by Einstein's elevator thought experiment, intended to introduce secondary school students to the principle of equivalence, which is at the basis of…
Even if Einstein's General Relativity achieved a great success and overcame lots of experimental tests, it also showed some shortcomings and flaws which today advise theorists to ask if it is the definitive theory of gravity. In this essay…
The recent advent of high precision antihydrogen spectroscopy opens the way to stringent experimental tests of the fundamental principles underlying particle physics and general relativity (GR), such as Lorentz and CPT invariance and the…
This article reviews recent developments in tests of fundamental physics using atoms and molecules, including the subjects of parity violation, searches for permanent electric dipole moments, tests of the CPT theorem and Lorentz symmetry,…
Experimental tests of gravity performed in the solar system show a good agreement with general relativity. The latter is however challenged by the Pioneer anomaly which might be pointing at some modification of gravity law at ranges of the…
The next generation of space-based experiments will go hunting for answers to cosmology's key open questions which revolve around inflation, dark matter and dark energy. Low earth orbit and lunar missions within the European Space Agency's…
Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR) provides the best available description of gravity. The recent detection of gravitational waves and the first picture of a black hole have provided spectacular confirmations of GR, as well as…
The MICROSCOPE mission was designed to test the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), stating the equality between the inertial and the gravitational masses, with a precision of $10^{-15}$ in terms of the E\"otv\"os ratio $\eta$. Its…
It is well known that Einstein's General Relativity (GR) achieved a great success and overcame lots of experimental tests. On the other hand, GR also showed some shortcomings and flaws which today advise theorists to ask if it is the…
Starting from the origin of Einstein general relativity (GR) the request of Mach on the theory's structure has been the core of the foundational debate. That problem is strictly connected with the nature of the mass-energy equivalence. It…
We present in detail the scientific objectives in fundamental physics of the Space-Time Explorer and QUantum Equivalence Space Test (STE-QUEST) space mission. STE-QUEST was pre-selected by the European Space Agency together with four other…
The nature of gravity is fundamental to our understanding of our own solar system, the galaxy and the structure and evolution of the Universe. Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard model that is used for almost ninety…