{"title":"Two Slingshots May Detect Ultraweak Features in the Sun’s Gravity","authors":"A. P. Yefremov","doi":"10.1134/S0202289323020123","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>A space experiment aimed at specifying the law of the Sun’s gravity more precisely is discussed. An extended “standard flight” scheme with two gravity assist maneuvers (slingshots) of a space probe near Venus and Earth is suggested, where the slingshots serve as amplifiers of small deflections caused by a deviation of the gravity law from a chosen ansatz. The deviation of the probe’s trajectory from its classic (Newtonian) pattern is calculated in detail using the isotropic Eddington–Robertson metric for the Sun’s gravity field and the “patched conic approximation” method for description of each slingshot. The trajectory deviation in the two-slingshots scheme is roughly assessed, the results indicating a principal possibility to detect the ultraweak distinctive feature of relativistic gravity.</p>","PeriodicalId":583,"journal":{"name":"Gravitation and Cosmology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gravitation and Cosmology","FirstCategoryId":"4","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S0202289323020123","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A space experiment aimed at specifying the law of the Sun’s gravity more precisely is discussed. An extended “standard flight” scheme with two gravity assist maneuvers (slingshots) of a space probe near Venus and Earth is suggested, where the slingshots serve as amplifiers of small deflections caused by a deviation of the gravity law from a chosen ansatz. The deviation of the probe’s trajectory from its classic (Newtonian) pattern is calculated in detail using the isotropic Eddington–Robertson metric for the Sun’s gravity field and the “patched conic approximation” method for description of each slingshot. The trajectory deviation in the two-slingshots scheme is roughly assessed, the results indicating a principal possibility to detect the ultraweak distinctive feature of relativistic gravity.
期刊介绍:
Gravitation and Cosmology is a peer-reviewed periodical, dealing with the full range of topics of gravitational physics and relativistic cosmology and published under the auspices of the Russian Gravitation Society and Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The journal publishes research papers, review articles and brief communications on the following fields: theoretical (classical and quantum) gravitation; relativistic astrophysics and cosmology, exact solutions and modern mathematical methods in gravitation and cosmology, including Lie groups, geometry and topology; unification theories including gravitation; fundamental physical constants and their possible variations; fundamental gravity experiments on Earth and in space; related topics. It also publishes selected old papers which have not lost their topicality but were previously published only in Russian and were not available to the worldwide research community