MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle

Pierre Touboul; Gilles Métris; Manuel Rodrigues; Yves André; Quentin Baghi; Joël Bergé; Damien Boulanger; Stefanie Bremer; Patrice Carle; Ratana Chhun; Bruno Christophe; Valerio Cipolla; Thibault Damour; Pascale Danto; Hansjoerg Dittus; Pierre Fayet; Bernard Foulon; Claude Gageant; Pierre Yves Guidotti; Daniel Hagedorn; Emilie Hardy; Phuong Anh Huynh; Henri Inchauspe; Patrick Kayser; Stéphanie Lala; Claus Lämmerzahl; Vincent Lebat; Pierre Leseur; Françoise Liorzou; Meike List; Frank Löffler; Isabelle Panet; Benjamin Pouilloux; Pascal Prieur; Alexandre Rebray; Serge Reynaud; Benny Rievers; Alain Robert; Hanns Selig; Laura Serron; Timothy Sumner; Nicolas Tanguy; Pieter Visser

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101

MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle

Pierre Touboul, Gilles Métris, Manuel Rodrigues, Yves André, Quentin Baghi, Joël Bergé, Damien Boulanger, Stefanie Bremer, Patrice Carle, Ratana Chhun, Bruno Christophe, Valerio Cipolla, Thibault Damour, Pascale Danto, Hansjoerg Dittus, Pierre Fayet, Bernard Foulon, Claude Gageant, Pierre Yves Guidotti, Daniel HagedornEmilie Hardy, Phuong Anh Huynh, Henri Inchauspe, Patrick Kayser, Stéphanie Lala, Claus Lämmerzahl, Vincent Lebat, Pierre Leseur, Françoise Liorzou, Meike List, Frank Löffler, Isabelle Panet, Benjamin Pouilloux, Pascal Prieur, Alexandre Rebray, Serge Reynaud, Benny Rievers, Alain Robert, Hanns Selig, Laura Serron, Timothy Sumner, Nicolas Tanguy, Pieter Visser

Astrodynamics & Space Missions

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

260 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

According to the weak equivalence principle, all bodies should fall at the same rate in a gravitational field. The MICROSCOPE satellite, launched in April 2016, aims to test its validity at the 10-15 precision level, by measuring the force required to maintain two test masses (of titanium and platinum alloys) exactly in the same orbit. A nonvanishing result would correspond to a violation of the equivalence principle, or to the discovery of a new long-range force. Analysis of the first data gives δ(Ti,Pt)=[-1±9(stat)±9(syst)]×10-15 (1σ statistical uncertainty) for the titanium-platinum Eötvös parameter characterizing the relative difference in their free-fall accelerations.

Original language	English
Article number	231101
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	119
Issue number	23
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101
Publication status	Published - 4 Dec 2017

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101

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Touboul, P., Métris, G., Rodrigues, M., André, Y., Baghi, Q., Bergé, J., Boulanger, D., Bremer, S., Carle, P., Chhun, R., Christophe, B., Cipolla, V., Damour, T., Danto, P., Dittus, H., Fayet, P., Foulon, B., Gageant, C., Guidotti, P. Y., ... Visser, P. (2017). MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle. Physical Review Letters, 119(23), Article 231101. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101

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title = "MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle",

abstract = "According to the weak equivalence principle, all bodies should fall at the same rate in a gravitational field. The MICROSCOPE satellite, launched in April 2016, aims to test its validity at the 10-15 precision level, by measuring the force required to maintain two test masses (of titanium and platinum alloys) exactly in the same orbit. A nonvanishing result would correspond to a violation of the equivalence principle, or to the discovery of a new long-range force. Analysis of the first data gives δ(Ti,Pt)=[-1±9(stat)±9(syst)]×10-15 (1σ statistical uncertainty) for the titanium-platinum E{\"o}tv{\"o}s parameter characterizing the relative difference in their free-fall accelerations.",

author = "Pierre Touboul and Gilles M{\'e}tris and Manuel Rodrigues and Yves Andr{\'e} and Quentin Baghi and Jo{\"e}l Berg{\'e} and Damien Boulanger and Stefanie Bremer and Patrice Carle and Ratana Chhun and Bruno Christophe and Valerio Cipolla and Thibault Damour and Pascale Danto and Hansjoerg Dittus and Pierre Fayet and Bernard Foulon and Claude Gageant and Guidotti, {Pierre Yves} and Daniel Hagedorn and Emilie Hardy and Huynh, {Phuong Anh} and Henri Inchauspe and Patrick Kayser and St{\'e}phanie Lala and Claus L{\"a}mmerzahl and Vincent Lebat and Pierre Leseur and Fran{\c c}oise Liorzou and Meike List and Frank L{\"o}ffler and Isabelle Panet and Benjamin Pouilloux and Pascal Prieur and Alexandre Rebray and Serge Reynaud and Benny Rievers and Alain Robert and Hanns Selig and Laura Serron and Timothy Sumner and Nicolas Tanguy and Pieter Visser",

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month = dec,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101",

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Touboul, P, Métris, G, Rodrigues, M, André, Y, Baghi, Q, Bergé, J, Boulanger, D, Bremer, S, Carle, P, Chhun, R, Christophe, B, Cipolla, V, Damour, T, Danto, P, Dittus, H, Fayet, P, Foulon, B, Gageant, C, Guidotti, PY, Hagedorn, D, Hardy, E, Huynh, PA, Inchauspe, H, Kayser, P, Lala, S, Lämmerzahl, C, Lebat, V, Leseur, P, Liorzou, F, List, M, Löffler, F, Panet, I, Pouilloux, B, Prieur, P, Rebray, A, Reynaud, S, Rievers, B, Robert, A, Selig, H, Serron, L, Sumner, T, Tanguy, N & Visser, P 2017, 'MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle', Physical Review Letters, vol. 119, no. 23, 231101. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101

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T1 - MICROSCOPE Mission

T2 - First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle

AU - Touboul, Pierre

AU - Métris, Gilles

AU - Rodrigues, Manuel

AU - André, Yves

AU - Baghi, Quentin

AU - Bergé, Joël

AU - Boulanger, Damien

AU - Bremer, Stefanie

AU - Carle, Patrice

AU - Chhun, Ratana

AU - Christophe, Bruno

AU - Cipolla, Valerio

AU - Damour, Thibault

AU - Danto, Pascale

AU - Dittus, Hansjoerg

AU - Fayet, Pierre

AU - Foulon, Bernard

AU - Gageant, Claude

AU - Guidotti, Pierre Yves

AU - Hagedorn, Daniel

AU - Hardy, Emilie

AU - Huynh, Phuong Anh

AU - Inchauspe, Henri

AU - Kayser, Patrick

AU - Lala, Stéphanie

AU - Lämmerzahl, Claus

AU - Lebat, Vincent

AU - Leseur, Pierre

AU - Liorzou, Françoise

AU - List, Meike

AU - Löffler, Frank

AU - Panet, Isabelle

AU - Pouilloux, Benjamin

AU - Prieur, Pascal

AU - Rebray, Alexandre

AU - Reynaud, Serge

AU - Rievers, Benny

AU - Robert, Alain

AU - Selig, Hanns

AU - Serron, Laura

AU - Sumner, Timothy

AU - Tanguy, Nicolas

AU - Visser, Pieter

PY - 2017/12/4

Y1 - 2017/12/4

N2 - According to the weak equivalence principle, all bodies should fall at the same rate in a gravitational field. The MICROSCOPE satellite, launched in April 2016, aims to test its validity at the 10-15 precision level, by measuring the force required to maintain two test masses (of titanium and platinum alloys) exactly in the same orbit. A nonvanishing result would correspond to a violation of the equivalence principle, or to the discovery of a new long-range force. Analysis of the first data gives δ(Ti,Pt)=[-1±9(stat)±9(syst)]×10-15 (1σ statistical uncertainty) for the titanium-platinum Eötvös parameter characterizing the relative difference in their free-fall accelerations.

AB - According to the weak equivalence principle, all bodies should fall at the same rate in a gravitational field. The MICROSCOPE satellite, launched in April 2016, aims to test its validity at the 10-15 precision level, by measuring the force required to maintain two test masses (of titanium and platinum alloys) exactly in the same orbit. A nonvanishing result would correspond to a violation of the equivalence principle, or to the discovery of a new long-range force. Analysis of the first data gives δ(Ti,Pt)=[-1±9(stat)±9(syst)]×10-15 (1σ statistical uncertainty) for the titanium-platinum Eötvös parameter characterizing the relative difference in their free-fall accelerations.

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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.231101

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85038399392

SN - 0031-9007

VL - 119

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

IS - 23

M1 - 231101

ER -

MICROSCOPE Mission: First Results of a Space Test of the Equivalence Principle

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