Light-Deflection Test of General Relativity

夏皮罗教授的小组将完成对 他们1987年测量无线电波偏转的实验 由于太阳的引力作用。 使用 他们观察到， 两个无线电源在两个星期的时间间隔集中在 太阳每年经过其中一个光源前。 通过 用包含自由参数的模型拟合该数据 根据广义相对论预测的效应， 用标准误差确定重力偏转 是一般预测的0.1% 相对论 提高少数几个观测到的 广义相对论的检验不仅是对 目前公认的引力理论，但也由于 广义相对论引力在理解 宇宙学，黑洞，类星体，和其他大质量的 天文物体 这个“光”偏转实验是 这是一个进步，因为它使用的信号记录在 三个宽分离的射频频带（2、8和23 GHz），允许更高精度的校正 射电散射引起的观测误差 电离层和日冕中的电波。

Professor Shapiro's group will complete the analysis of their 1987 experiment to measure the deflection of radio waves due to the gravitational effects of the Sun. Using the technique of very-long-baseline interferometry, they observed two radio sources over a two-week interval centered on the annual passage of the Sun in front of one of the sources. By fitting this data with a model that includes a free parameter scaling the effects predicted by general relativity, they will determine the gravitational deflection with a standard error of 0.1 percent of the magnitude predicted by general relativity. Improving the accuracy of one of the few observational tests of general relativity is important not only as a test of the currently accepted theory of gravity, but also due to the role of general relativistic gravitation in the understanding of cosmology, black holes, quasars, and other massive astronomical objects. This "light"-deflection experiment is an advance over earlier ones since it uses signals recorded in three widely-separated radio-frequency bands (2, 8, and 23 GHz), allowing for higher accuracy corrections for the observational errors contributed by the dispersion of radio waves in the ionosphere and the solar corona.