Abstract
In 1916, Albert Einstein proposed three tests to verify his theory: (i) the gravitational redshift of light, (ii) the perihelion precession of Mercury, and iii) the deflection of light by the Sun. These three tests are today referred to as the classical tests of general relativity. In 1964, Irwin Shapiro proposed another test, which is often called the fourth classical test of general relativity.
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Notes
- 1.
Note, for example, that the Schwarzschild metric is a solution even in some alternative theories of gravity. Since the Mercury perihelion precession and the light deflection are only sensitive to the trajectories of particles, these tests can only verify the Schwarzschild metric (assuming geodesic motion), they cannot distinguish Einstein’s gravity from those alternative theories of gravity in which the Schwarzschild metric is a solution of their field equations.
- 2.
In order to have the correct Newtonian limit, the line element must have the form
For higher order terms, there are no theoretical requirements, and therefore we introduce \(\beta \) and \(\gamma \).
References
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Bambi, C. (2018). Classical Tests of General Relativity. In: Introduction to General Relativity. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1090-4_9
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