Verification of the Principle of Equivalence for Massive Bodies
I. I. ShapiroMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139C. C. CounselmanMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139R. W. KingMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
1976en
ABI
Abstract
Analysis of 1389 measurements, accumulated between 1970 and 1974, of echo delays of laser signals transmitted from Earth and reflected from cube corners on the Moon shows gravitational binding energy to contribute equally to Earth's inertial and passive gravitational masses to within the estimated uncertainty of 1.5%. The corresponding restriction on the Eddington-Robertson parameters is $4\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{-}3=\ensuremath{-}0.001\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.015$. Combination with other results, as if independent, yields $\ensuremath{\beta}=1.003\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.005$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}=1.008\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.008$, in accord with general relativity.
Identifiers
Citations and references
Cited by 20 references