The Schwarzschild metric enables the behavior of test bodies, light rays, and clocks to be predicted, so that Einstein’s theory of gravitation can be tested. Some of these tests will be discussed in this chapter. We first discuss the two classical tests: the perihelion shift of Mercury and the deflection of light by gravity, then the time delay of light in a gravitational field (the Shapiro experiment). Finally we will comment on Hulse and Taylor’s measurement of gravitational wave decay of the orbit of a binary pulsar system. Their work indirectly confirms the existence of gravitational radiation.
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(2008). Experimental Tests of Einstein's Theory. In: Gravity, Black Holes, and the Very Early Universe. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73631-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73631-0_5
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