Precessions in Relativity

A highly precise model for the motion of a rigid Earth is indispensable to reveal the effects of non-rigidity in the rotation of the Earth from observations. To meet the accuracy goal of modern theories of Earth rotation of 1 microarcsecond (muas) it is clear, that for such a model also relativistic effects have to be taken into account. The largest of these effects is the so called geodetic precession. In this paper we will describe this effect and the standard procedure t...

Recent years have seen increasing efforts to directly measure some aspects of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic interaction in several astronomical scenarios in the solar system. After briefly overviewing the concept of gravitomagnetism from a theoretical point of view, we review the performed or proposed attempts to detect the Lense-Thirring effect affecting the orbital motions of natural and artificial bodies in the gravitational fields of the Sun, Earth, Mars and Ju...

The general relativistic Lense-Thirring precessions of the perihelia of the inner planets of the Solar System are about 10^-3 arcseconds per century. Recent improvements in planetary orbit determination may yield the first observational evidence of such a tiny effect. Indeed, corrections to the known perihelion rates of -0.0036 +/- 0.0050, -0.0002 +/- 0.0004 and 0.0001 +/- 0.0005 arcseconds per century were recently estimated by E.V. Pitjeva for Mercury, the Earth and Mars, r...

The small discrepancy between the observed orbit of Mercury and the orbit predicted by Newtonian gravity was a key test of Einstein's theory, and a dramatic verification of the correctness of General Relativity. This `anomalous precession' of the perihelion is here calculated using a particularly simple method and resulting in a new and elegant series for the precession which converges very quickly.

The additional precession of Mercury due to general relativity can be calculated by a method that is no more difficult than solving for the Newtonian orbit. The method relies on linearizing the relativistic orbit equation, is simpler than standard textbook methods, and is closely related to Newton's theorem on revolving orbits. The main result is accurate to all orders in $\tfrac{1}{c}$ for near-circular orbits.

An experimental test at the intersection of quantum physics and general relativity is proposed: measurement of relativistic frame dragging and geodetic precession using intrinsic spin of electrons. The behavior of intrinsic spin in spacetime dragged and warped by a massive rotating body is an experimentally open question, hence the results of such a measurement could have important theoretical consequences. Such a measurement is possible by using mm-scale ferromagnetic gyrosc...

Starting with the flat space-time relativistic versions of Maxwell-Heaviside's toy model vector theory of gravity and introducing the gravitational analogues for the electromagnetic Lienard-Wiechert potentials together with the notion of a gravitational Thomas Precession; the observed anomalous perihelion advance of Mercury's orbit is here explained as a relativistic effect in flat (Minkowski) space-time, unlike Einstein's curved space-time relativistic explanation. In this n...

Gravitational Thomas Precession (GTP) is the name given to Thomas Precession when the acceleration is caused by a gravitational force field. The GTP gives a negative contribution of 7.163 arcsec/century for the anomalous perihelion advance of Mercury's orbit. This effect seems to be of some concern for the General Relativity.

Relativistic Newtonian Dynamics, the simple model used previously for predicting accurately the anomalous precession of Mercury, is now applied to predict the periastron advance of a binary. The classical treatment of a binary as a two-body problem is modified to account for the influence of the gravitational potential on spacetime. Without curving spacetime, the model predicts the identical equation for the relativistic periastron advance as the post-Newtonian approximation ...

The Gravity Probe B (GP-B) experiment is complete and the results are in agreement with the predictions of general relativity (GR) for both the geodetic precession, 6.6 arcsec/yr to about 0.3%, and the Lense-Thirring precession, 39 marcsec to about 19%. This note is concerned with the theoretical basis for the predictions. The predictions depend on three elements of gravity theory, firstly that macroscopic gravity is described by a metric theory such as general relativity, se...