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The confrontation between general relativity and experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2010

Clifford M. Will
Clifford M. Will*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis MO 63130, USA, Gravitation et Cosmologie, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis Bd. Arago, 75014 Paris France email: cmw@wuphys.wustl.edu
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Abstract

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We review the experimental evidence for Einstein's general relativity. A variety of high precision null experiments confirm the Einstein Equivalence Principle, which underlies the concept that gravitation is synonymous with spacetime geometry, and must be described by a metric theory. Solar system experiments that test the weak-field, post-Newtonian limit of metric theories strongly favor general relativity. Binary pulsars test gravitational-wave damping and aspects of strong-field general relativity. During the coming decades, tests of general relativity in new regimes may be possible. Laser interferometric gravitational-wave observatories on Earth and in space may provide new tests via precise measurements of the properties of gravitational waves. Future efforts using X-ray, infrared, gamma-ray and gravitational-wave astronomy may one day test general relativity in the strong-field regime near black holes and neutron stars.

Keywords

gravitationgravitational wavesrelativity
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S261: Relativity in Fundamental Astronomy: Dynamics, Reference Frames, and Data Analysis , April 2009 , pp. 198 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

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