Tests of General Relativity: A Review

Abstract

This report is a literature review of significant and successful tests of general relativity [GR]. The GR predicted value for the perihelion advance of Mercury was Deltaf = 43.03 arcsec century^-1 and fit well with observation, being the first success of GR. The GR result for the bending of light around the Sun dGR = 1.75 arcsec, confirmed by observation, marked the second successful validation of GR. Gravitational Redshift [GvR] was first detected 1925 and is the third successful classical test. The parametrized post-Newtonian PPN employs b and g for GR testing. Shapiro delay was also confirmed with g = 1.000021 +/- 0.000023, against GR value g = 1, some consider this to be the fourth classical test. So too gravitational time dilation GvT was experimentally confirmed in 1971, while GvT for GPS is a daily validation of GR. Frame-dragging and the Geodetic effect have also been confirmed. The strong equivalence principle SEP has been confirmed to h = 4.4 x 10^-4, to GR h = 0. Gravitational slip has been constrained to EG = 0.48 +/- 0.10 at z = 0.32, against the GR value, EG = 0.30 +/- 0.07. The first gravitational wave detection from GW150914, in 2015, has confirmed a long-awaited phenomenon that has taken GR testing to higher precision. Gravitational lensing has also confirmed GR to better than 1%. GR continues to be tested, eliminating competing gravity theories.

65 pages, 23 Figures, B.Sc. [hons] dissertation

References in corpus (10)

• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Tests of general relativity from timing the double pulsar
• A discriminating probe of gravity at cosmological scales
• Confirmation of general relativity on large scales from weak lensing and galaxy velocities
• Measurement of Orbital Decay in the Double Neutron Star Binary PSR B2127+11C
• High-precision limit on variation in the fine-structure constant from a single quasar absorption system
• Confronting General Relativity with Further Cosmological Data
• Testing gravity on large scales by combining weak lensing with galaxy clustering using CFHTLenS and BOSS CMASS
• A step towards testing general relativity using weak gravitational lensing and redshift surveys
• Relativistic redshifts in quasar broad lines

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