Test of the Gravitational Redshift with Galileo Satellites in an Eccentric Orbit

Sven Herrmann, Felix Finke, Martin Lülf, Olga Kichakova, Dirk Puetzfeld, Daniela Knickmann, Meike List, Benny Rievers, Gabriele Giorgi, Christoph Günther, Hansjörg Dittus, Roberto Prieto-Cerdeira, Florian Dilssner, Francisco Gonzalez, Erik Schönemann, Javier Ventura-Traveset, Claus Lämmerzahl

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

118 Scopus citations

Abstract

On August 22, 2014, the satellites GSAT-0201 and GSAT-0202 of the European GNSS Galileo were unintentionally launched into eccentric orbits. Unexpectedly, this has become a fortunate scientific opportunity since the onboard hydrogen masers allow for a sensitive test of the redshift predicted by the theory of general relativity. In the present Letter, we describe an analysis of approximately three years of data from these satellites including three different clocks. For one of these, we determine the test parameter quantifying a potential violation of the combined effects of the gravitational redshift and the relativistic Doppler shift. The uncertainty of our result is reduced by more than a factor 4 as compared to the values of Gravity Probe A obtained in 1976.

Original languageEnglish
Article number231102
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume121
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - 4 Dec 2018

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