Claus Lammerzahl – författare

Due to steadily improving experimental accuracy, relativistic concepts – based on Einstein’s theory of Special and General Relativity – are playing an increasingly important role in modern geodesy. This book offers an introduction to the emerging field of relativistic geodesy, and covers topics ranging from the description of clocks and test bodies, to time and frequency measurements, to current and future observations.

Emphasis is placed on geodetically relevant definitions and fundamental methods in the context of Einstein’s theory (e.g. the role of observers, use of clocks, definition of reference systems and the geoid, use of relativistic approximation schemes). Further, the applications discussed range from chronometric and gradiometric determinations of the gravitational field, to the latest (satellite) experiments. The impact of choices made at a fundamental theoretical level on the interpretation of measurements and the planning of future experiments is also highlighted. Providing an up-to-the-minute status report on the respective topics discussed, the book will not only benefit experts, but will also serve as a guide for students with a background in either geodesy or gravitational physics who are interested in entering and exploring this emerging field.

This book discusses theoretical predictions and their comparison with experiments of extended and modified classical and quantum theories of gravity. The goal is to provide a readable access and broad overview over different approaches to the topic to graduate and PhD students as well as to young researchers. The book presents both, theoretical and experimental insights and is structured in three parts. The first addresses the theoretical models beyond special and general relativity such as string theory, Poincare gauge theory and teleparallelism as well as Finsler gravity. In turn, the second part is focused on the observational effects that these models generate, accounting for tests and comparisons which can be made on all possible scales: from the universe as a whole via binary systems, stars, black holes, satellite experiments, down to laboratory experiments at micrometer and smaller scales. The last part of this book is dedicated to quantum systems and gravity, showing tests of classical gravity with quantum systems, and coupling of quantum matter and gravity.

 The present volume aims to be a comprehensive survey on the derivation of the equations of motion, both in General Relativity as well as in alternative gravity theories. The topics covered range from the description of test bodies, to self-gravitating (heavy) bodies, to current and future observations.Emphasis is put on the coverage of various approximation methods (e.g., multipolar, post-Newtonian, self-force methods) which are extensively used in the context of the relativistic problem of motion. Applications discussed in this volume range from the motion of binary systems -- and the gravitational waves emitted by such systems -- to observations of the galactic center. In particular the impact of choices at a fundamental theoretical level on the interpretation of experiments is highlighted.This book provides a broad and up-do-date status report, which will not only be of value for the experts working in this field, but also may serve as a guideline for students with background in General Relativity who like to enter this field.

Over the next decade the gravitational physics community will benefit from dramatic improvements in many technologies critical to testing gravity. Highly accurate deep space navigation, interplanetary laser communication, interferometry and metrology, high precision frequency standards, precise pointing and attitude control, together with drag-free technologies, will revolutionize the field of experimental gravitational physics. The centennial of the general theory of relativity in 2015 will motivate a significant number of experiments designed to test this theory with unprecedented accuracy.

The purpose of the contributions in this book, written by international experts, is to explore the possibilities for the next 20 years for conducting gravitational experiments in space that would utilize both entirely new and highly improved existing capabilities.

After a century of successes, physicists still feel the need to probe the limits of the validity of theories based on special relativity. Canonical approaches to quantum gravity, non-commutative geometry, string theory and unification scenarios predict tiny violations of Lorentz invariance at high energies.

The present book, based on a recent seminar devoted to such frontier problems, contains reviews of the foundations of special relativity and the implications of Poincaré invariance as well as comprehensive accounts of experimental results and proposed tests.

The book addresses, besides researchers in the field, everyone interested in the conceptual and empirical foundations of our knowledge about space, time and matter.