Constraining Mach's principle with high precision astrometry
arXiv:2105.05337
Abstract
The analyses of high precision astrometric surveys, such as Gaia, implicitly assume a modern version of Mach's Principle: the local inertial frame of our Solar System should be non-rotating in the frame of distant quasars. On the contrary, Einstein's General Relativity allows a rotating universe. Thus, relaxing the assumption of Mach's Principle will allow placing a constraint on a class of rotating cosmologies by comparing high precision astrometry of quasars with well-measured solar system orbits. Constraining global rotation will test General Relativity, inflation, and the isotropy of cosmological initial conditions.
arXiv comment4 pages, Essay written for the Gravity Research Foundation 2021 Awards for Essays on Gravitation