Large scale tests of the gravity law

by Serge Reynaud (Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Paris)

Friday 13 Nov 2009, 14:15 → 15:15 Europe/Zurich

Univ. de Geneve, Auditoire Stueckelberg, 24 quai E. Ansermet, CH-1211 Genève 4

The experiments performed during the 20th century have confirmed the validity of general relativity from the scale of laboratory till that of planetary orbits. But windows remain open for deviations from the predictions of general relativity at smaller or larger scales. And the study of large scales is of particular interest in the current context of fundamental physics marked by the enigmae of dark matter and dark energy. We shall discuss this question, by taking into account the many results which confirm general relativity as well as the few "anomalies" which could constitute first indications of a large-scale modification of the gravity law, or result more mundanely from some "artefact" in the experiment or its analysis. We shall present several strategies used to approach this problem, in particular the re-analysis of the data or the projects of dedicated missions or instruments, the objective of which would be to use the currently available technologies in order to test the law of gravity on the scale of the solar system.