Relativity and Cosmology

    

The Geodesic Precession as a 3-D Schouten Precession Plus a Gravitational Thomas Precession.

Authors: E.P.J. de Haas

The Gravity Probe B (GP-B) experiment measured the geodetic precession due to parallel transport in a curved space-time metric, as predicted by de Sitter, Fokker and Schiff. Schiff included the Thomas precession in his treatment and argued that it should be zero in a free fall orbit. We review the existing interpretations regarding the relation between the Thomas precession and the geodetic precession for a gyroscope in a free fall orbit. Schiff and Parker had contradictory views on the status of the Thomas precession in a free fall orbit, a contradiction that continues to exist in the literature. In the second part of this paper we derive the geodetic precession as a global Thomas Precession by use of the Equivalent Principle and some elements of hyperbolic geometry, a derivation that allows the treatment of GP--B physics in between SR and GR courses.

Comments: 34 pages. Canadian Journal of Physics, 2014, 92(10): 1082-1093

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[v1] 2013-10-14 13:45:11

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