Abstract
We review the experimental evidence for Einstein’s special and general relativity. A variety of high precision null experiments verify the weak equivalence principle and local Lorentz invariance, while gravitational redshift and other clock experiments support local position invariance. Together these results confirm the Einstein Equivalence Principle which underlies the concept that gravitation is synonymous with spacetime geometry, and must be described by a metric theory. Solar system experiments that test the weak-field, post-Newtonian limit of metric theories strongly favor general relativity. The Binary Pulsar provides tests of gravitational-wave damping and of strong-field general relativity. Recently discovered binary pulsar systems may provide additional tests. Ongoing and future experiments, such as the Gravity Probe B Gyroscope Experiment, satellite tests of the Equivalence principle, and tests of gravity at short distance to look for extra spatial dimensions could constrain extensions of general relativity. Laser interferometric gravitational-wave observatories on Earth and in space may provide new tests of gravitational theory via detailed measurements of the properties of gravitational waves. Future efforts using X-ray, infrared, gamma-ray and gravitational-wave astronomy may one day achieve one of John Wheeler’s visions: to test general relativity in the strong-field regime near black holes.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation, Grant No. PHY 03-53180 and 06-52448 and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Grant No. NNG-06GI60G.
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Will, C.M. (2010). The Confrontation Between General Relativity and Experiment. In: Ciufolini, I., Matzner, R. (eds) General Relativity and John Archibald Wheeler. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 367. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3735-0_6
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