General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, abstract
gr-qc/0606063

From: Yuri Shtanov [view email]

Date (v1): Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:55:51 GMT (14kb)
Date (revised v2): Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:22:11 GMT (15kb)
Date (revised v3): Wed, 21 Jun 2006 19:50:22 GMT (15kb)

APSIS - an Artificial Planetary System in Space to probe extra-dimensional gravity and MOND

Authors: Varun Sahni, Yuri Shtanov

Comments: 13 pages, revtex, item 9 added in the discussion on page 10, references added

A proposal is made to test Newton's inverse-square law using the perihelion shift of test masses (planets) in free fall within a spacecraft located at the Earth-Sun L2 point. Such an Artificial Planetary System In Space (APSIS) will operate in a drag-free environment with controlled experimental conditions and minimal interference from terrestrial sources of contamination. We demonstrate that such a space experiment can probe the presence of a "hidden" fifth dimension on the scale of a micron, if the perihelion shift of a "planet" can be measured to sub-arc-second accuracy. Some suggestions for spacecraft design are made.

http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0606063