Direct post-Newtonian orbital effects around an oblate body arbitrarily oriented in space [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5947


We analytically calculate the direct post-Newtonian orbital perturbations of a test particle moving about an oblate primary endowed with an arbitrarily oriented quadrupole mass moment $Q_2$. The resulting long-term rates of change of order $\mathcal{O}\left(Q_2 c^{-2}\right)$ have a general validity since no a-priori assumptions on both the spin axis ${\boldsymbol{\hat{k}}}$ of the central body and the orbital configuration of the orbiter are made. We discuss the indirect, mixed orbital effects of order $\mathcal{O}\left(Q_2 c^{-2}\right)$ arising from the interplay between the standard Newtonian quadrupolar and post-Newtonian point particle accelerations, and the issue of their potential measurability in actual data reductions.

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L. Iorio
Wed, 26 Feb 14
25/51