On the perspectives of testing the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati gravity model with the outer planets of the Solar System

Abstract

The multidimensional braneworld gravity model by Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati was primarily put forth to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the Universe without resorting to dark energy. One of the most intriguing features of such a model is that it also predicts small effects on the orbital motion of test particles which could be tested in such a way that local measurements at Solar System scales would allow to get information on the global properties of the Universe. Lue and Starkman derived a secular extra-perihelion ωprecession of 5\times 10^-4 arcseconds per century, while Iorio showed that the mean longitude λis affected by a secular precession of about 10^-3 arcseconds per century. Such effects depend only on the eccentricities e of the orbits via second-order terms: they are, instead, independent of their semimajor axes a. Up to now, the observational efforts focused on the dynamics of the inner planets of the Solar System whose orbits are the best known via radar ranging. Since the competing Newtonian and Einsteinian effects like the precessions due to the solar quadrupole mass moment J2, the gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic part of the equations of motion reduce with increasing distances, it would be possible to argue that an analysis of the orbital dynamics of the outer planets of the Solar System, with particular emphasis on Saturn because of the ongoing Cassini mission with its precision ranging instrumentation, could be helpful in evidencing the predicted new features of motion. In this note we investigate this possibility in view of the latest results in the planetary ephemeris field. Unfortunately, the current level of accuracy rules out this appealing possibility and it appears unlikely that Cassini and GAIA will ameliorate the situation.

LaTex, 22 pages, 2 tables, 10 figures, 27 references. Reference [17] added, reference [26] updated, caption of figures changed, small change in section 1.2

References in corpus (10)

• Ghosts in Massive Gravity
• The Phenomenology of Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati Cosmologies
• More on ghosts in DGP model
• Ghosts, Strong Coupling and Accidental Symmetries in Massive Gravity
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• Schwarzschild solution in brane induced gravity
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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Vainshtein Mechanism in Binary Pulsars
• On the (im)possibility of testing new physics in exoplanets using transit timing variations: deviation from inverse-square law of gravity
• Wormholes and solitonic shells in five-dimensional DGP theory
• Astronomical constraints on some long-range models of modified gravity
• Fluid sphere: stability problem and dimensional constraint