Probing the gravitational redshift with an Earth-orbiting satellite

D.A. Litvinov , V.N. Rudenko , A.V. Alakoz , U. Bach , N. Bartel , A.V. Belonenko , K.G. Belousov , M. Bietenholz , A.V. Biriukov , R. Carman , G. Cimó , Clément Courde (1) , D. Dirkx , D.A. Duev , A.I. Filetkin , G. Granato , L.I. Gurvits , A.V. Gusev , R. Haas , G. Herold , A. Kahlon , B.Z. Kanevsky , V.L. Kauts , G.D. Kopelyansky , A.V. Kovalenko , G. Kronschnabl , V.V. Kulagin , A.M. Kutkin , M.L. Indqvist , J.E.J. Lovell , H. Mariey (1) , J. Mccallum , G. Molera Calvés , C. Moore , K. Moore , A. Neidhardt , C. Plötz , S.V. Pogrebenko , A. Pollard , N.K. Porayko , J. Quick , A.I. Smirnov , K.V. Sokolovsky , V.A. Stepanyants , J.-M. Torre (1) , P. de Vicente , J. Yang , M.V. Zakhvatkin

1 GEOAZUR 7329 - Géoazur

We present an approach to testing the gravitational redshift effect using the RadioAstron satellite. The experiment is based on a modification of the Gravity Probe A scheme of nonrelativistic Doppler compensation and benefits from the highly eccentric orbit and ultra-stable atomic hydrogen maser frequency standard of the RadioAstron satellite. Using the presented techniques we expect to reach an accuracy of the gravitational redshift test of order 10−5 , a magnitude better than that of Gravity Probe A. Data processing is ongoing, our preliminary results agree with the validity of the Einstein Equivalence Principle.

Mots clés: Gravitational redshift; Equivalence Principle; Atomic clocks; RadioAstron

Domaines: Relativité Générale et Cosmologie Quantique [gr-qc]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

D.A. Litvinov, V.N. Rudenko, A.V. Alakoz, U. Bach, N. Bartel, et al.. Probing the gravitational redshift with an Earth-orbiting satellite. Phys.Lett.A, 2018, 382, pp.2192-2198. ⟨10.1016/j.physleta.2017.09.014⟩. ⟨hal-01818188⟩