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arXiv · gr-qc/0212043

Gravitational Acceleration of Spinning Bodies From Lunar Laser Ranging Measurements

Kenneth Nordtvedt
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Abstract

The Sun's relativistic gravitational gradient accelerations of Earth and Moon, dependent on the motions of the latter bodies, act upon the system's internal angular momentum. This spin-orbit force (which plays a part in determining the gravity wave signal templates for astrophysical sources) slightly accelerates the Earth-Moon system as a whole, but it more robustly perturbs that system's internal dynamics with a 5 cm, synodically oscillating range contribution which is presently measured to 4 mm precision by more than three decades of lunar laser ranging.

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Kenneth Nordtvedt. 2002-12-09. Gravitational Acceleration of Spinning Bodies From Lunar Laser Ranging Measurements. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1024064800831

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