| Zugriffsnummer | 14747 |
| Dokumenttyp | Zeitschriftenartikel |
| Sprache | Englisch |
| Titel | New experimental limit on the validity of local position invariance |
| Autor(in); Institution |
Bauch, Andreas; 4.32, Zeiteinheit, PTB-Braunschweig
Weyers, Stefan; 4.32, Zeiteinheit, PTB-Braunschweig
|
| Quelle/Jahr | Physical Review D: 65 (2002), 081101-1 - 081101-4 |
| ISSN | 0556-2821 |
| DOI | |
| URL | |
| Klassifikationscode | PACS: 04.80.Cc ; PACS: 06.30.Ft |
| Freie Schlagworte | Atomic clocks ; general relativity ; Local Position Invariance |
| Zusammenfassung | Local position invariance (LPI) is part of the more general Einstein equivalence principle (EEP) which in turn is a foundation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. The EEP predicts a dependence of clock rates on the local gravitational potential U. LPI predicts that the gravitational shift is independent of the atomic species involved as a reference in the clock. It can thus be tested by comparing two different kinds of atomic frequency standard in the same time-varying gravitational potential U(t). In our experiment we made use of the time dependence of U(t) due to Earth's annual elliptical orbital motion. U(t)/c² varies between ± 3.3x10-10 (c is the speed of light). Comparing a caesium atomic fountain frequency standard with a hydrogen maser for about one year allowed us to set an upper limit on a possible frequency variation of 2.1x10-5 of this amount. Compared to previous similar experiments the limit of the notional violation of LPI was reduced by a factor of more than 30. |
