Test des schwachen Äquivalenzprinzips mit höherer Genauigkeit: Erste Ergebnisse der MICROSCOPE Mission

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Claus Lämmerzahl
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Kern- und Elementarteilchenphysik, Quantenmechanik, Relativitätstheorie, Felder
• Förderung: Förderung von 2013 bis 2018
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 247729241

The proposed project aims at improving the accuracy for the test of the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) by performing the first science data analysis for the upcoming MICROSCOPE space mission. The WEP is the central principle underlying General Relativity and in the focus of experimental physics since Galileo. The step into space is motivated by the fact that earthbound experiments reached fundamental technical limits. With the space mission MICROSCOPE an improvement of the accuracy for the Eötvös parameter by a factor of more than 100 can be achieved reaching 5.0E-16. Tests of the WEP are not only testing one of the most prominent fundamental principles in physics but also are a tool to search for expected effects of quantum gravity theories or to set limits on parameters of these theories. MICROSCOPE is a French space mission with German contribution. The launch is scheduled for April 2016. ZARM is member of the Science Working Group and has the primary access to the mission raw data what enables the first science data analysis within the proposed project. We already have a broad expertise in developing models and tools for the simulation and the analysis of space mission data - especially in the area of multi-body-dynamics, needed in particular for this mission scenario. Effort in three working areas is necessary to reach the final goal: (i) Completion of an analysis tool for determining non-stationary disturbance effects based on the wavelet transformation theory. CNES has already decided to reserve a section for the results of the ZARM wavelet analysis within the official MICROSCOPE data reports. (ii) Development of a fingerprint-database which includes the spectral properties (time-dependent and time-independent) of all relevant disturbance effects. (iii) Finally, the flight data analysis will be performed in order to obtain the scientific result. Based on the result of the science data analysis of one measurement session a modification of the in-orbit calibration is possible in order to optimise the measurement performance. Due to the generic character of the modelling approaches, the procedures to be developed in this project can be adapted to other science missions especially in the areas of geodesy and fundamental physics.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen