2000/04/19 by Sergei M. Kopeikin, Kopeikin, Sergei M., C. R. Gwinn +2 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Calibration and Measurement Techniques #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/0004064
5 pages, the talk given at the IAU Colloquium 180 "Towards Models and Constants for Sub-Microarcsecond Astrometry", Washington DC, March 26 - April 2, 2000
arxiv created 2000/04/19 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
Attaining the limit of sub-microarcsecond optical resolution will completely revolutionize fundamental astrometry by merging it with relativistic gravitational physics. Beyond the sub-microarcsecond threshold, one will meet in the sky a new population of physical phenomena caused by primordial gravitational waves from early universe and/or different localized astronomical sources, space-time topological defects, moving gravitational lenses, time variability of gravitational fields of the solar system and binary stars, and many others. Adequate physical interpretation of these yet undetectable sub-microarcsecond phenomena can not be achieved on the ground of the "standard" post-Newtonian approach (PNA), which is valid only in the near-zone of astronomical objects having a time-dependent gravitational field. We describe a new, post-Minkowskian relativistic approach for modeling astrometric observations having sub-microarcsecond precision and briefly discuss the light-propagation effects caused by gravitational waves and other phenomena related to time-dependent gravitational fields. The domain of applicability of the PNA in relativistic space astrometry is explicitly outlined.