Abstract
The space radio telescope “RadioAstron” is equipped with a high performance hydrogen maser frequency standard and thus provides a unique opportunity for a gravitational redshift test. We consider various modes of operation of the on-board scientific equipment and their impact on accuracy of the anticipated experiment. We find that the accuracy of the test is limited by ∼10−2 for the hardware configuration routinely used in radio astronomical observations, which is a consequence of using ballistic data to remove the nonrelativistic Doppler frequency shift from the analyzed signal. On the other hand, the so-called “Semi-coherent” mode of the on-board hardware provides for combining the space and ground maser signals in such a way that the resulting signal carries information about the useful effect but is free from the nonrelativistic Doppler and tropospheric frequency shifts. The proposed compensation scheme, which is different from the one used in the Gravity Probe A experiment, allows for testing the gravitational redshift effect with ∼10−6 accuracy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
C. Misner, K. Thorne, and J. Wheeler, Gravitation (San Francisco: Freeman, 1973).
C. M. Will, Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).
R. V. Pound and G. A. Rebka, Phys. Rev. Lett. 4, 337 (1960).
R. V. Pound and J. L. Snider, Phys. Rev. B 140, 788 (1965).
R. F. C. Vessot, M. W. Levine, E. M. Mattison, E. L. Blomberg, T. E. Hoffman, G. U. Nystrom, B. F. Farrel, R. Decher, P. B. Eby, C. R. Baugher, J.W. Watts, D. L. Teuber, and F. D. Wills, Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 2081 (1980).
M. P. Hess, L. Stringhetti, B. Hummelsberger, K. Hausner, R. Stalford, R. Nasca, L. Cacciapuoti, R. Much, S. Feltham, T. Vudali, B. Leger, F. Picard, D. Massonnet, P. Rochat, D. Goujon, W. Schaefer, P. Laurent, P. Lemonde, A. Clairon, P. Wolf, C. Salomon, I. Prochazka, U. Schreiber, and O. Montenbruck, Acta Astron. 69, 929 (2011).
Ph. Laurent, M. Abgrall, Ch. Jentsch, P. Lemonde, G. Santarelli, A. Clairon, I. Maksimovic, S. Bize, Ch. Salomon, D. Blonde, J. F. Vega, O. Grosjean, F. Picard, M. Saccoccio, M. Chaubet, N. Ladiette, L. Guillet, I. Zenone, Ch. Delaroche, and Ch. Sirmain, Appl. Phys. B 84, 683 (2006).
STE-QUEST Assessment Study Report, 2013, http://sci.esa.int/ste-quest/53445-ste-quest-yellow-book/.
N. K. Pavlis, S. A. Holmes, S. C. Kenyon, and J. K. Factor, J. Geophys. Res. (Solid Earth) 117, B04406 (2012).
E. M. Standish, JPL Interoffice Memorandum IOM 312.F-98-048 (1998); http://iau-comm4.jpl.nasa.gov/de405iom/de405iom.pdf.
N. S. Kardashev, V. V. Khartov, V. V. Abramov, V. Yu. Avdeev, A. V. Alakoz, Yu. A. Aleksandrov, S. Ananthakrishnan, V. V. Andreyanov, A. S. Andrianov, N. M. Antonov, M. I. Artyukhov, M. Yu. Arkhipov, W. Baan, N. G. Babakin, V. E. Babyshkin, N. Bartel’, K. G. Belousov, A. A. Belyaev, J. J. Berulis, B. F. Burke, A. V. Biryukov, A. E. Bubnov, M. S. Burgin, G. Busca, A. A. Bykadorov, V. S. Bychkova, V. I. Vasil’kov, K. J. Wellington, I. S. Vinogradov, R. Wietfeldt, P. A. Voitsik, A. S. Gvamichava, I. A. Girin, L. I. Gurvits, R. D. Dagkesamanskii, L. D’Addario, G. Giovannini, D. L. Jauncey, P. E. Dewdney, A. A. D’yakov, V. E. Zharov, V. I. Zhuravlev, G. S. Zaslavskii, M. V. Zakhvatkin, A. N. Zinov’ev, Yu. Ilinen, A. V. Ipatov, B. Z. Kanevskii, I. A. Knorin, J. L. Casse, K. I. Kellermann, Yu. A. Kovalev, Yu. Yu. Kovalev, A. V. Kovalenko, B. L. Kogan, R. V. Komaev, A. A. Konovalenko, G. D. Kopelyanskii, Yu. A. Korneev, V. I. Kostenko, A. N. Kotik, B. B. Kreisman, A. Yu. Kukushkin, V. F. Kulishenko, D. N. Cooper, A. M. Kut’kin, W. H. Cannon, M. G. Larionov, M. M. Lisakov, L. N. Litvinenko, S. F. Likhachev, L. N. Likhacheva, A. P. Lobanov, S. V. Logvinenko, G. Langston, K. McCracken, S. Yu. Medvedev, M. V. Melekhin, A. V. Menderov, D. W. Murphy, T. A. Mizyakina, Yu. V. Mozgovoi, N. Ya. Nikolaev, B. S. Novikov, I. D. Novikov, V. V. Oreshko, Yu. K. Pavlenko, I. N. Pashchenko, Yu. N. Ponomarev, M. V. Popov, A. Pravin-Kumar, R. A. Preston, V. N. Pyshnov, I. A. Rakhimov, V. M. Rozhkov, J. D. Romney, P. Rocha, V. A. Rudakov, A. Räisänen, S. V. Sazankov, B. A. Sakharov, S. K. Semenov, V. A. Serebrennikov, R. T. Schilizzi, D. P. Skulachev, V. I. Slysh, A. I. Smirnov, J. G. Smith, V. A. Soglasnov, K. V. Sokolovskii, L. H. Sondaar, V. A. Stepan’yants, M. S. Turygin, S. Yu. Turygin, A. G. Tuchin, S. Urpo, S. D. Fedorchuk, A. M. Finkel’shtein, E.B. Fomalont, I. Fejes, A. N. Fomina, Yu. B. Khapin, G. S. Tsarevskii, J. A. Zensus, A. A. Chuprikov, M. V. Shatskaya, N. Ya. Shapirovskaya, A. I. Sheikhet, A. E. Shirshakov, A. Schmidt, L. A. Shnyreva, V. V. Shpilevskii, R. D. Ekers, V. E. Yakimov, Astron. Rep. 57, 153 (2013).
R. F. C. Vessot and M. W. Levine, Gen. Relat. and Grav. 10, 181 (1979).
A. R. Thompson, J. M. Moran, G. W. Swenson, Interferometry and synthesis in radio astronomy (N.-Y.: Wiley, 2001).
A. E. Niell, J. Geophys Res. 101, 3227 (1996).
R. F. C. Vessot and M. W. Levine, NASA Experimental Final Redshift Report, GPA Project Report, Contract NAS 8-27969 (NASA, 1979).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.V. Biriukov, V.L. Kauts, V.V. Kulagin, D.A. Litvinov, V.N. Rudenko, 2014, published in Astronomicheskii Zhurnal, 2014, Vol. 91, No. 11, pp. 887–900.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Biriukov, A.V., Kauts, V.L., Kulagin, V.V. et al. Gravitational redshift test with the space radio telescope “RadioAstron”. Astron. Rep. 58, 783–795 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063772914110018
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063772914110018