Sun-Earth Lagrange reference for fundamental physics and navigation

Abstract

The use of four Lagrange points of the Sun/Earth system for fundamental physics experiments in space is presented. L1, L2, L4 and L5 rotating rigidly together with the Earth form a natural reference frame at the scale of the inner solar system. The idea which is discussed in the paper considers the possibility of locating four spacecraft in the four cited Lagrange points and exchanging electromagnetic pulses among them. Including stations on earth, various closed paths for the pulses are possible. Time of flight measurements would be performed. The time of flight difference between right- and left-handed circuits is proportional to the angular momentum of the Sun and the detection of the effect would reach accuracies better than 1% depending on the accuracy of the clock. The four points could also be used as "artificial pulsars" for a relativistic positioning system at the scale of the solar system. Additional interesting possibilities include detection of a galactic gravito-magnetic field and also, using a global configuration as a zero area Sagnac contour, detection of gravitational waves. More opportunities are also mentioned.

28 pages, 2 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Test of gravitomagnetism with satellites around the Earth
• Looking for a new test of general relativity in the solar system
• Dark angular momentum of the galaxy
• Relativistic positioning and Sagnac-like measurements for fundamental physics in space
• Gravitomagnetic resonance and gravitational waves