How the orbital period of a test particle is modified by the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati gravity?

In addition to the pericentre \omega, the mean anomaly M and, thus, the mean longitude \lambda, also the orbital period Pb and the mean motion $n$ of a test particle are modified by the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati gravity. While the correction to Pb depends on the mass of the central body and on the geometrical features of the orbital motion around it, the correction to $n$ is independent of them, up to terms of second order in the eccentricity $e$. The latter one amounts to about 2\times 10^-3 arcseconds per century. The present-day accuracy in determining the mean motions of the inner planets of the Solar System from radar ranging and differential Very Long Baseline Interferometry is 10^-2-5\times 10^-3 arcseconds per century, but it should be improved in the near future when the data from the spacecraft to Mercury and Venus will be available.Comment: LaTex, 7 pages, 13 references, no tables, no figures. Section 2.3 added. To appear in JCA

Perspectives in measuring the PPN parameters beta and gamma in the Earth's gravitational fields with the CHAMP/GRACE models

The current bounds on the PPN parameters gamma and beta are of the order of 10^-4-10^-5. Various missions aimed at improving such limits by several orders of magnitude have more or less recently been proposed like LATOR, ASTROD, BepiColombo and GAIA. They involve the use of various spacecraft, to be launched along interplanetary trajectories, for measuring the effects of the solar gravity on the propagation of electromagnetic waves. In this paper we investigate what is needed to measure the combination nu=(2+2gamma-beta)/3 of the post-Newtonian gravitoelectric Einstein perigee precession of a test particle to an accuracy of about 10^-5 with a pair of drag-free spacecraft in the Earth's gravitational field. It turns out that the latest gravity models from the dedicated CHAMP and GRACE missions would allow to reduce the systematic error of gravitational origin just to this demanding level of accuracy. In regard to the non-gravitational errors, the spectral noise density of the drag-free sensors required to reach such level of accuracy would amounts to 10^-8-10^-9 cm s^-2 Hz^-1/2 over very low frequencies. Although not yet obtainable with the present technologies, such level of compensation is much less demanding than those required for, e.g., LISA. As a by-product, an independent measurement of the post-Newtonian gravitomagnetic Lense-Thirring effect with a 0.9% accuracy would be possible as well. The forthcoming Earth gravity models from CHAMP and GRACE will further reduce the systematic gravitational errors in both of such tests.Comment: LaTex2e, 14 pages, 3 tables, no figures, 75 references. To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

On a new observable for measuring the Lense-Thirring effect with Satellite Laser Ranging

In this paper we present a rather extensive error budget for the difference of the perigees of a pair of supplementary SLR satellites aimed to the detection of the Lense-Thirring effect.Comment: LaTex2e, 14 pages, 1 table, no figures. Some changes and additions to the abstract, Introduction and Conclusions. References updated, typos corrected. Equation corrected. To appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Secular increase of the Astronomical Unit and perihelion precessions as tests of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati multi-dimensional braneworld scenario

An unexpected secular increase of the Astronomical Unit, the length scale of the Solar System, has recently been reported by three different research groups (Krasinsky and Brumberg, Pitjeva, Standish). The latest JPL measurements amount to 7+-2 m cy^-1. At present, there are no explanations able to accommodate such an observed phenomenon, neither in the realm of classical physics nor in the usual four-dimensional framework of the Einsteinian General Relativity. The Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati braneworld scenario, which is a multi-dimensional model of gravity aimed to the explanation of the observed cosmic acceleration without dark energy, predicts, among other things, a perihelion secular shift, due to Lue and Starkman, of 5 10^-4 arcsec cy^-1 for all the planets of the Solar System. It yields a variation of about 6 m cy^-1 for the Earth-Sun distance which is compatible at 1-sigma level with the observed rate of the Astronomical Unit. The recently measured corrections to the secular motions of the perihelia of the inner planets of the Solar System are in agreement, at 1-sigma level, with the predicted value of the Lue-Starkman effect for Mercury and Mars and at 2-sigma level for the Earth.Comment: LaTex2e, 7 pages, no figures, no tables, 13 references. Minor correction

Expressing the tacit knowledge of a digital library system as linked data

Library organizations have enthusiastically undertaken semantic web initiatives and in particular the data publishing as linked data. Nevertheless, different surveys report the experimental nature of initiatives and the consumer difficulty in re-using data. These barriers are a hindrance for using linked datasets, as an infrastructure that enhances the library and related information services. This paper presents an approach for encoding, as a Linked Vocabulary, the "tacit" knowledge of the information system that manages the data source. The objective is the improvement of the interpretation process of the linked data meaning of published datasets. We analyzed a digital library system, as a case study, for prototyping the "semantic data management" method, where data and its knowledge are natively managed, taking into account the linked data pillars. The ultimate objective of the semantic data management is to curate the correct consumers' interpretation of data, and to facilitate the proper re-use. The prototype defines the ontological entities representing the knowledge, of the digital library system, that is not stored in the data source, nor in the existing ontologies related to the system's semantics. Thus we present the local ontology and its matching with existing ontologies, Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies (PREMIS) and Metadata Objects Description Schema (MODS), and we discuss linked data triples prototyped from the legacy relational database, by using the local ontology. We show how the semantic data management, can deal with the inconsistency of system data, and we conclude that a specific change in the system developer mindset, it is necessary for extracting and "codifying" the tacit knowledge, which is necessary to improve the data interpretation process

A critical approach to the concept of a polar, low-altitude LARES satellite

According to very recent developments of the LARES mission, which would be devoted to the measurement of the general relativistic Lense--Thirring effect in the gravitational field of the Earth with Satellite Laser Ranging, it seems that the LARES satellite might be finally launched in a polar, low--altitude orbit by means of a relatively low--cost rocket. The observable would be the node only. In this letter we critically analyze this scenario.Comment: LaTex2e, 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravit

The relativistic precession of the orbits

The relativistic precession can be quickly inferred from the nonlinear polar orbit equation without actually solving it.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

On the perspectives of testing the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati gravity model with the outer planets of the Solar System

The multidimensional braneworld gravity model by Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati was primarily put forth to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the Universe without resorting to dark energy. One of the most intriguing features of such a model is that it also predicts small effects on the orbital motion of test particles which could be tested in such a way that local measurements at Solar System scales would allow to get information on the global properties of the Universe. Lue and Starkman derived a secular extra-perihelion \omega precession of 5\times 10^-4 arcseconds per century, while Iorio showed that the mean longitude \lambda is affected by a secular precession of about 10^-3 arcseconds per century. Such effects depend only on the eccentricities e of the orbits via second-order terms: they are, instead, independent of their semimajor axes a. Up to now, the observational efforts focused on the dynamics of the inner planets of the Solar System whose orbits are the best known via radar ranging. Since the competing Newtonian and Einsteinian effects like the precessions due to the solar quadrupole mass moment J2, the gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic part of the equations of motion reduce with increasing distances, it would be possible to argue that an analysis of the orbital dynamics of the outer planets of the Solar System, with particular emphasis on Saturn because of the ongoing Cassini mission with its precision ranging instrumentation, could be helpful in evidencing the predicted new features of motion. In this note we investigate this possibility in view of the latest results in the planetary ephemeris field. Unfortunately, the current level of accuracy rules out this appealing possibility and it appears unlikely that Cassini and GAIA will ameliorate the situation.Comment: LaTex, 22 pages, 2 tables, 10 figures, 27 references. Reference [17] added, reference [26] updated, caption of figures changed, small change in section 1.

Conservative evaluation of the uncertainty in the LAGEOS-LAGEOS II Lense-Thirring test

We deal with the test of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic Lense-Thirring effect currently ongoing in the Earth's gravitational field with the combined nodes \Omega of the laser-ranged geodetic satellites LAGEOS and LAGEOS II. One of the most important source of systematic uncertainty on the orbits of the LAGEOS satellites, with respect to the Lense-Thirring signature, is the bias due to the even zonal harmonic coefficients J_L of the multipolar expansion of the Earth's geopotential which account for the departures from sphericity of the terrestrial gravitational potential induced by the centrifugal effects of its diurnal rotation. The issue addressed here is: are the so far published evaluations of such a systematic error reliable and realistic? The answer is negative. Indeed, if the difference \Delta J_L among the even zonals estimated in different global solutions (EIGEN-GRACE02S, EIGEN-CG03C, GGM02S, GGM03S, ITG-Grace02, ITG-Grace03s, JEM01-RL03B, EGM2008, AIUB-GRACE01S) is assumed for the uncertainties \delta J_L instead of using their more or less calibrated covariance sigmas \sigma_{J_L}, it turns out that the systematic error \delta\mu in the Lense-Thirring measurement is about 3 to 4 times larger than in the evaluations so far published based on the use of the sigmas of one model at a time separately, amounting up to 37% for the pair EIGEN-GRACE02S/ITG-Grace03s. The comparison among the other recent GRACE-based models yields bias as large as about 25-30%. The major discrepancies still occur for J_4, J_6 and J_8, which are just the zonals the combined LAGEOS/LAGOES II nodes are most sensitive to.Comment: LaTex, 12 pages, 12 tables, no figures, 64 references. To appear in Central European Journal of Physics (CEJP