LUNAR LASER RANGING TESTS OF THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE WITH THE EARTH AND MOON

A primary objective of the lunar laser ranging (LLR) experiment is to provide precise observations of the lunar orbit that contribute to a wide range of science investigations. In particular, time series of the highly accurate measurements of the distance between the Earth and the Moon provide unique information used to determine whether, in accordance with the equivalence principle (EP), these two celestial bodies are falling toward the Sun at the same rate, despite their different masses, compositions, and gravitational self-energies. Thirty-five years since their initiation, analyses of precision laser ranges to the Moon continue to provide increasingly stringent limits on any violation of the EP. Current LLR solutions give (-1.0 ± 1.4) × 10-13 for any possible inequality in the ratios of the gravitational and inertial masses for the Earth and Moon, Δ(MG/MI). This result, in combination with laboratory experiments on the weak equivalence principle, yields a strong equivalence principle (SEP) test of Δ(...

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