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

Vishwa Vijay Singh*, Jürgen Müller, and Liliane Biskupek

Eva Hackmann and Claus Lämmerzahl

  • Institute of Geodesy (IfE), Leibniz University Hannover, Schneiderberg 50, 30167 Hannover, Germany

  • Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen, Am Fallturm, 28359 Bremen, Germany

  • *singh@ife.uni-hannover.de
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 021401 – Published 13 July, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.021401

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)] reflecting the benefit of the many years of LLR data.

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synopsis

Confirming Gravitational Interactions are Equal and Opposite

Published 13 July, 2023

High-precision measurements of the Moon’s orbit show that iron and aluminum feel and exert gravitational forces equally.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 021401– Published 13 July, 2023
  • Received 23 December 2022
  • Accepted 25 May 2023
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