The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment

Will, Clifford M.

doi:10.12942/lrr-2014-4

Cited by 2,609 publications

(2,489 citation statements)

References 414 publications

(465 reference statements)

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“…Precise tests of the predictions of GR existed before GW150914 (see [56] for a recent review), but none could directly probe gravity at spatial (high curvature) and temporal (rapid dynamics) scales anything like those near a black hole binary without involving potential astrophysical complexities. Note also that electromagnetic tests of high curvature scales (e.g., [57,58]), such as proposed searches for signatures of modifications of gravity in iron Kα line profiles, or continuum X-ray spectra, or the shape of a black hole shadow, have typically not been performed using comprehensive parameter exploration.…”

Section: Implications For Gravitational Physicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the gravitational wave event GW150914

Miller

2016

Gen Relativ Gravit

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The era of gravitational-wave astronomy began on 14 September 2015, when the LIGO Scientific Collaboration detected the merger of two ∼ 30 M ⊙ black holes at a distance of ∼ 400 Mpc. This event has facilitated qualitatively new tests of gravitational theories, and has also produced exciting information about the astrophysical origin of black hole binaries. In this review we discuss the implications of this event for gravitational physics and astrophysics, as well as the expectations for future detections. In brief: (1) because the spins of the black holes could not be measured accurately and because mergers are not well calculated for modified theories of gravity, the current analysis of GW150914 does not place strong constraints on gravity variants that change only the generation of gravitational waves, but (2) it does strongly constrain alterations of the propagation of gravitational waves and alternatives to black holes. Finally, (3) many astrophysical models for the origin of heavy black hole binaries such as the GW150914 system are in play, but a reasonably robust conclusion that was reached even prior to the detection is that the environment of such systems needs to have a relatively low abundance of elements heavier than helium.

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Section: Implications For Gravitational Physicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the gravitational wave event GW150914

Miller

2016

Gen Relativ Gravit

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“…This is true also of general relativistic extensions to MOND like TeVeS (e.g. Bekenstein 2004;Will 2014) and is known as the External Field Effect (EFE, see e.g. Milgrom 1983;Bekenstein & Milgrom 1984;Milgrom 2010;McGaugh & Milgrom 2013;Hees et al 2016;Haghi & Amiri 2016;McGaugh 2016;Wu et al 2010Wu et al , 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stellar streams as gravitational experiments

Thomas

Famaey

Ibata

et al. 2018

A&A

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Kinematically cold tidal streams of globular clusters (GC) are excellent tracers of the Galactic gravitational potential at moderate Galactocentric distances, and can also be used as probes of the law of gravity on Galactic scales. Here, we compare for the first time the generation of such streams in Newtonian and Milgromian gravity (MOND). We first compute analytical results to investigate the expected shape of the GC gravitational potential in both frameworks, and we then run N-body simulations with the Phantom of Ramses code. We find that the GCs tend to become lopsided in MOND. This is a consequence of the external field effect which breaks the strong equivalence principle. When the GC is filling its tidal radius the lopsidedness generates a strongly asymmetric tidal stream. In Newtonian dynamics, such markedly asymmetric streams can in general only be the consequence of interactions with dark matter subhalos, giant molecular clouds, or interaction with the Galactic bar. In these Newtonian cases, the asymmetry is the consequence of a very large gap in the stream, whilst in MOND it is a true asymmetry. This should thus allow us in the future to distinguish these different scenarios by making deep observations of the environment of the asymmetric stellar stream of Palomar 5. Moreover, our simulations indicate that the high internal velocity dispersion of Palomar 5 for its small stellar mass would be natural in MOND.

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“…In the context of the parametrized post-Newtonian treatment of deviations from general relativity (Will 2014),…”

Section: Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eötvös experiments with supermassive black holes

Asvathaman

Hui

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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By examining the locations of central black holes in two elliptical galaxies, M 32 and M 87, we derive constraints on the violation of the strong equivalence principle for purely gravitational objects, i.e. black holes, of less than about two-thirds, η N < 0.68 from the gravitational interaction of M 87 with its neighbours in the Virgo cluster.Although M 32 appears to be a good candidate for this technique, the high concentration of stars near its centre substantially weakens the constraints. On the other hand, if a central black hole is found in NGC 205 or one of the other satellite ellipticals of M 31, substantially better constraints could be obtained. In all cases the constraints could improve dramatically with better astrometry.

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The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment

Cited by 2,609 publications

References 414 publications

Implications of the gravitational wave event GW150914

Implications of the gravitational wave event GW150914

Stellar streams as gravitational experiments

Eötvös experiments with supermassive black holes

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