Test of general relativity: 1995-2002 measurement of frame-dragging

Abstract

After an introduction on phenomena due to spin and mass-energy currents on clocks and photons, we review the 1995-2001 measurements of the gravitomagnetic field of Earth and Lense-Thirring effect obtained by analyzing the orbits of the two laser-ranged satellites LAGEOS and LAGEOS II; this method has provided a direct measurement of Earth's gravitomagnetism with accuracy of the order of 20 %. A future accurate measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect, at the level of 1 % accuracy, may include the LARES experiment that will also provide other basic tests of general relativity and gravitation. Finally, we report the latest measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect, obtained in 2002 with the LAGEOS satellites over nearly 8 years of data. This 2002 result fully confirms and improves our previous measurements of the Earth frame-dragging: the Lense-Thirring effect exists and its experimental value is within ~ 20 % of what is predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity.

arXiv comment12 pages, 2 figures

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