Related papers: Progress in Lunar Laser Ranging Tests of Relativis…
A primary objective of the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment is to provide precise observations of the lunar orbit that contribute to a wide range of science investigations. Time series of the highly accurate measurements of the distance…
The Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment provides precise observations of the lunar orbit that contribute to a wide range of science investigations. In particular, time series of highly accurate measurements of the distance between the…
This paper addresses the motivation, technology and recent results in the tests of the general theory of relativity (GR) in the solar system. We specifically discuss Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), the only technique available to test the Strong…
Accurate analysis of precision ranges to the Moon has provided several tests of gravitational theory including the Equivalence Principle, geodetic precession, parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters $\gamma$ and $\beta$, and the…
The Earth, Mars, Sun, Jupiter system allows for a sensitive test of the strong equivalence principle (SEP) which is qualitatively different from that provided by Lunar Laser Ranging. Using analytic and numerical methods we demonstrate that…
Existing capabilities in laser ranging, optical interferometry and metrology, in combination with precision frequency standards, atom-based quantum sensors, and drag-free technologies, are critical for the space-based tests of fundamental…
The year 1996 will mark the initiation of a number of new space missions to the planet Mars from which we expect to obtain a rich set of data, including spacecraft radio tracking data. Anticipating these events, we have analyzed the…
Lorentz symmetry violations can be parametrized 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 present new constraints on…
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…
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…
The validity of General Relativity, after 100 years, is supported by solid experimental evidence. However, there is a lot of interest in pushing the limits of precision by other experiments. Here we focus our attention on the equivalence…
The gravitational strong equivalence principle (SEP) is a cornerstone of the general theory of relativity (GR). The extreme difference in binding energy between neutron stars and white dwarfs allows for precision tests of the SEP via the…
The Strong Equivalence Principle (SEP) demands, besides the validity of the Einstein Equivalence Principle, that all self-gravitating bodies feel the same acceleration in an external gravitational field. It has been found that metric…
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), which has been carried out for more than 35 years, is used to determine many parameters within the Earth-Moon system. This includes coordinates of terrestrial ranging stations and that of lunar retro-reflectors,…
General relativity is supported by great experimental evidence. Yet there is a lot of interest in precisely setting its limits with on going and future experiments. A question to answer is about the validity of the Strong Equivalence…
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…
We present the first constraints on pure-gravity sector Standard-Model Extension (SME) parameters using Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR). LLR measures the round trip travel time of light between the Earth and the Moon. With 34+ years of LLR data,…
In the last decade, a variety of high-precision experiments have searched for miniscule violations of Lorentz symmetry. These searches are largely motivated by the possibility of uncovering experimental signatures from a fundamental unified…
In this paper the possibility of measuring some general relativistic effects in the gravitational field of the Moon via selenodetic missions, with particular emphasis to the future Japanese SELENE mission, is investigated. For a typical…
General Relativity (GR) has been successfully tested mainly at Solar system scales; however, galaxy-scale tests have become popular in the last few decades. In this work, we investigate the $\eta_\text{PPN}$ parameter, which is commonly…