New Concept for Testing General Relativity: The Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) Mission

Abstract

This paper discusses new Fundamental physics experiment that will test relativistic gravity at the accuracy better than the effects of the second order in the gravitational field strength, ~G^2. The Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR) mission uses laser interferometry between two micro-spacecraft whose lines of sight pass close by the Sun to accurately measure deflection of light in the solar gravity. The key element of the experimental design is a redundant geometry optical truss provided by a long-baseline (100 m) multi-channel stellar optical interferometer placed on the International Space Station (ISS). The spatial interferometer is used for measuring the angles between the two spacecraft and for orbit determination purposes. LATOR will not only improve the value of the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) $\gamma$ to unprecedented levels of accuracy of 1 part in 10e8, it will also reach ability to measure effects of the next post-Newtonian order (1/c^4) of light deflection resulting from gravity's intrinsic non-linearity. The solar quadrupole moment parameter, J2, will be measured with high precision, as well as a variety of other relativistic effects including Lense-Thirring precession. LATOR will lead to very robust advances in the tests of Fundamental physics: this mission could discover a violation or extension of general relativity, or reveal the presence of an additional long range interaction in the physical law. There are no analogs to the LATOR experiment; it is unique and is a natural culmination of solar system gravity experiments.

11 pages, 4 figures, invited talk presented at AIAA Meeting "Space 2003", 23 September 2003, Long Beach, CA

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Cited by in corpus (9)

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• Light deflection in Weyl gravity: constraints on the linear parameter
• Gravitomagnetism and the Speed of Gravity
• Classical tests in brane gravity
• Testing gravity at the Second post-Newtonian level through gravitational deflection of massive particles
• General Relativity in Space and Sensitive Tests of the Equivalence Principle
• Astrometric tests of General Relativity in the Solar System: mathematical and computational scenarios
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