Kavli Affiliate: Sven Herrmann
| First 5 Authors: Jan Scheumann, Dennis Philipp, Sven Herrmann, Eva Hackmann, Benny Rievers
| Summary:
All experiments to date are in remarkable agreement with the predictions of
Einstein’s theory of gravity, General Relativity. Besides the classical tests,
involving light deflection, orbit precession, signal delay, and the
gravitational redshift, modern technology has pushed the limits even further.
Gravitational waves have been observed multiple times as have been black holes,
arguably amongst the most fascinating objects populating our universe.
Moreover, geodetic satellite missions have enabled the verification of yet
another prediction: gravitomagnetism. This phenomenon arises due to the
rotation of a central body, e.g., the Earth, which is dragging spacetime along.
One resulting effect on satellite orbits is the observed Lense-Thirring effect.
Another predicted, yet unverified, effect is the so-called gravitomagnetic
clock effect, which was first described by Cohen and Mashhoon as the proper
time difference of two counter-revolving clocks in an orbit around a rotating
mass.
A theoretical framework is introduced that describes a gravitomagnetic clock
effect based on a stationary spacetime model. An incremental definition of a
suitable observable follows, which can be accessed via orbit data obtained from
the European satellite navigation system Galileo, and an implementation of the
framework for use with real satellite and clock data is presented. The
technical requirements on a satellite mission are studied to measure the
gravitomagnetic clock effect at the state-of-the-art in satellite laser ranging
and modelling of gravitational and non-gravitational perturbations. Based on
the analysis within this work, a measurement of the gravitomagnetic clock
effect is highly demanding, but might just be within reach in the very near
future based on current and upcoming technology.
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