Equivalence of Active and Passive Gravitational Mass Tested with Lunar Laser Ranging

authored by: Vishwa Vijay Singh, Jürgen Müller, Liliane Biskupek, Eva Hackmann, Claus Lämmerzahl
Abstract: Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) measures the distance between observatories on Earth and retro-reflectors on the Moon since 1969. In this Letter, we study the possible violation of the equivalence of passive and active gravitational mass (ma/mp), for aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe), using LLR data. Our new limit of 3.9×10-14 is about 100 times better than that of Bartlett and Van Buren [Equivalence of Active and Passive Gravitational Mass Using the Moon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57, 21 (1986)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.57.21] reflecting the benefit of the many years of LLR data.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
QuantumFrontiers
External Organisation(s): Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM)
Type: Article
Journal: Physical Review Letters
Volume: 131
ISSN: 0031-9007
Publication date: 14.07.2023
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.09407 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.021401 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{924612a8254846738045ef22cc7f614b,
title = "Equivalence of Active and Passive Gravitational Mass Tested with Lunar Laser Ranging",
abstract = "Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) measures the distance between observatories on Earth and retro-reflectors on the Moon since 1969. In this Letter, we study the possible violation of the equivalence of passive and active gravitational mass (ma/mp), for aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe), using LLR data. Our new limit of 3.9×10-14 is about 100 times better than that of Bartlett and Van Buren [Equivalence of Active and Passive Gravitational Mass Using the Moon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57, 21 (1986)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.57.21] reflecting the benefit of the many years of LLR data.",
keywords = "gr-qc, astro-ph.EP, physics.space-ph",
author = "Singh, {Vishwa Vijay} and J{\"u}rgen M{\"u}ller and Liliane Biskupek and Eva Hackmann and Claus L{\"a}mmerzahl",
note = "Funding Information: Current LLR data are collected, archived, and distributed under the auspices of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) . We acknowledge with thanks that the processed LLR data, since 1969, has been obtained under the efforts of the personnel at the Observatoire de la C{\^o}te d{\textquoteright}Azur in France, the LURE Observatory in Maui, Hawaii, the McDonald Observatory in Texas, the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, the Matera Laser Ranging observatory in Italy, and the Wettzell Laser Ranging System in Germany. This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany{\textquoteright}s Excellence Strategy EXC 2123 QuantumFrontiers, Project-ID 390837967. We also thank James G. Williams, California Institute of Technology for an extensive discussion on the effect of the degree 2 tides. Without his help, this publication would not have been possible.",
year = "2023",
month = jul,
day = "14",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2212.09407",
language = "English",
volume = "131",
journal = "Physical Review Letters",
issn = "0031-9007",
publisher = "American Physical Society",
number = "2",
}