No Arabic abstract
Aims: Recently, cosmological fast radio bursts (FRBs) have been used to provide the most stringent limit up to date on Einsteins Equivalence Principle (EEP). We study how to further test EEP with FRBs. Methods: Future systematic radio surveys will certainly find abundant FRBs at cosmological distances and some of them will inevitably be located behind clusters of galaxies. Here we suggest to use those FRBs to further test EEP. Results: We find that the robustness and accuracy of testing EEP can be improved further by orders of magnitude with these FRBs. The same methodology can also be applied to any other types of fast and bright transients at cosmological distances.
Theories of gravity that obey the Weak Equivalence Principle have the same Parametrised Post-Newtonian parameter $gamma$ for all particles at all energies. The large Shapiro time delays of extragalactic sources allow us to put tight constraints on differences in $gamma$ between photons of different frequencies from spectral lag data, since a non-zero $Delta gamma$ would result in a frequency-dependent arrival time. The majority of previous constraints have assumed that the Shapiro time delay is dominated by a few local massive objects, although this is a poor approximation for distant sources. In this work we consider the cosmological context of these sources by developing a source-by-source, Monte Carlo-based forward model for the Shapiro time delays by combining constrained realisations of the local density field using the BORG algorithm with unconstrained large-scale modes. Propagating uncertainties in the density field reconstruction and marginalising over an empirical model describing other contributions to the time delay, we use spectral lag data of Gamma Ray Bursts from the BATSE satellite to constrain $Delta gamma < 3.4 times 10^{-15}$ at $1 sigma$ confidence between photon energies of $25 {rm , keV}$ and $325 {rm , keV}$.
We propose and apply a new test of Einsteins Equivalence Principle (EEP) based on the gravitational redshift induced by the central super massive black hole of quasars in the surrounding accretion disk. Specifically, we compare the observed gravitational redshift of the Fe III$lambdalambda$2039-2113 emission line blend in quasars with the predicted values in a wide, uncharted, cosmic territory ($0 lesssim z_{cosm}lesssim3$). For the first time we measure, with statistical uncertainties comparable or better than those of other classical methods outside the Solar System, the ratio between the observed gravitational redshifts and the theoretical predictions in 10 independent cosmological redshift bins in the $1 lesssim z_{cosm}lesssim3$ range. The average of the measured over predicted gravitational redshifts ratio in this cosmological redshift interval is $langle z^m_g/z_g^prangle=1.05pm 0.06$ with scatter $0.13pm 0.05$ showing no cosmological evolution of EEP within these limits. This method can benefit from larger samples of measurements with better S/N ratios, paving the way for high precision tests (below 1%) of EEP on cosmological scales.
We report here the results of operation of a torsion balance with a period of $sim 1.27 times 10^4$ s. The analysis of data collected over a period of $sim$115 days shows that the difference in the accelerations towards the Galactic Center of test bodies made of aluminum and quartz was $(0.61 pm 1.27) times 10^{-15} , mathrm{ m , s}^{-2}$. This sets a bound on the violation of the equivalence principle by forces exerted by Galactic dark matter which is expressed by the Eotvos parameter $eta_{DM} = (1.32 pm 2.68) times 10^{-5}$, a significant improvement upon earlier bounds.
We compare GW150914 directly to simulations of coalescing binary black holes in full general relativity, accounting for all the spin-weighted quadrupolar modes, and separately accounting for all the quadrupolar and octopolar modes. Consistent with the posterior distributions reported in LVC_PE[1] (at 90% confidence), we find the data are compatible with a wide range of nonprecessing and precessing simulations. Followup simulations performed using previously-estimated binary parameters most resemble the data. Comparisons including only the quadrupolar modes constrain the total redshifted mass Mz in [64 - 82M_odot], mass ratio q = m2/m1 in [0.6,1], and effective aligned spin chi_eff in [-0.3, 0.2], where chi_{eff} = (S1/m1 + S2/m2) cdothat{L} /M. Including both quadrupolar and octopolar modes, we find the mass ratio is even more tightly constrained. Simulations with extreme mass ratios and effective spins are highly inconsistent with the data, at any mass. Several nonprecessing and precessing simulations with similar mass ratio and chi_{eff} are consistent with the data. Though correlated, the components spins (both in magnitude and directions) are not significantly constrained by the data. For nonprecessing binaries, interpolating between simulations, we reconstruct a posterior distribution consistent with previous results. The final black holes redshifted mass is consistent with Mf,z between 64.0 - 73.5M_odot and the final black holes dimensionless spin parameter is consistent with af = 0.62 - 0.73. As our approach invokes no intermediate approximations to general relativity and can strongly reject binaries whose radiation is inconsistent with the data, our analysis provides a valuable complement to LVC_PE[1].
We consider the problem of testing the Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) by measuring the gravitational redshift with two Earth-orbiting stable atomic clocks. For a reasonably restricted class of orbits we find an optimal experiment configuration that provides for the maximum accuracy of measuring the relevant EEP violation parameter. The perigee height of such orbits is $sim$~1,000~km and the period is 3--5~hr, depending on the clock type. For the two of the current best space-qualified clocks, the VCH-1010 hydrogen maser and the PHARAO cesium fountain clock, the achievable experiment accuracy is, respectively, $1times10^{-7}$ and $5times10^{-8}$ after 3 years of data accumulation. This is more than 2 orders of magnitude better than achieved in Gravity Probe A and GREAT missions as well as expected for the RadioAstron gravitational redshift experiment. Using an anticipated future space-qualified clock with a performance of the current laboratory optical clocks, an accuracy of $3times10^{-10}$ is reachable.