https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04696-6
Letter to the Editor
First results of the LARES 2 space experiment to test the general theory of relativity
1
Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology (APM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 430071, Wuhan, China
2
Scuola Di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy
3
Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research II (GESTAR II), University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD, USA
4
Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
5
Center for Gravitational Physics, Weinberg Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
6
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, CGS-Matera, Matera, Italy
7
Center for Cosmology and Astrophysics, Alikhanian National Laboratory and Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
8
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Received:
18
October
2023
Accepted:
14
November
2023
Published online:
29
November
2023
The LAGEOS 3 (today LARES 2) space experiment was proposed in the eighties by the Physics Department and by the Center of Space Research (CSR) of the University of Texas (UT) at Austin and by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to test and accurately measure frame-dragging, with the strong support of John Archibald Wheeler, director of the Center for Theoretical Physics of UT Austin. Frame-dragging is an intriguing phenomenon predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity which has fundamental implications in high-energy astrophysics and in the generation of gravitational waves by spinning black holes. LAGEOS 3 was reproposed in 2016 to the Italian Space Agency and to the European Space Agency as a technologically much improved version of LAGEOS 3 under the name LARES 2 (LAres RElativity Satellite 2) and then successfully launched in 2022 with the new launch vehicle VEGA C of ASI, ESA and AVIO. Today, after almost 40 years since the original proposal, we report the first results of the LARES 2 space experiment to test general relativity. The results are in complete agreement with the predictions of Einstein’s gravitational theory. Whereas previous results already confirmed the frame-dragging prediction, the conceptual relative simplicity of the LARES 2 experiment with respect to the previous tests with the LARES and LAGEOS satellites provides a significant advance in the field of tests of general relativity.
Paper dedicated to John Archibald Wheeler, a key figure of fundamental physics of the XX century and vigorous supporter of the LAGEOS 3/LARES 2 space experiment to test general relativity.
Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
