2014/11/21 by Gene Byrd, Arthur Chernin, Byrd, Gene +5
Physics and Astronomy · #85 #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph.CO #msc:85
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1411.5860
To appear in revised form in Carlo Rovelli (Ed.): General Relativity: The most Beautiful of Theories, DeGruyter 2015
arxiv created 2014/11/21 · arxiv updated 2014/11/24
Einstein's General Relativity theory has been tested in many ways during the last hundred years as reviewed in this chapter. Two tests are discussed in detail in this article: the concept of a zero gravity surface, the roots of which go back to Järnefelt, Einstein and Straus, and the no-hair theorem of black holes, first proposed by Israel, Carter and Hawking. The former tests the necessity of the cosmological constant Lambda, the latter the concept of a spinning black hole. The zero gravity surface is manifested most prominently in the motions of dwarf galaxies around the Local Group of galaxies. The no-hair theorem is testable for the first time in the binary black hole system OJ287. These represent stringent tests at the limit of weak and strong gravitational fields, respectively. In this article we discuss the current observational situation and future possibilities.