Thus the metric and the equations of motion for matter become the primary entities for calculating observable effects, and all that distinguishes one metric theory from another is the particular way in which matter and possibly other gravitational fields generate the metric.
The comparison of metric theories of gravity with each other and with experiment becomes particularly
simple when one takes the slow-motion, weak-field limit. This approximation, known as the post-Newtonian
limit, is sufficiently accurate to encompass most solar-system tests that can be performed in the foreseeable
future. It turns out that, in this limit, the spacetime metric predicted by nearly every metric theory of
gravity has the same structure. It can be written as an expansion about the Minkowski metric
(
) in terms of dimensionless gravitational potentials of varying degrees of smallness.
These potentials are constructed from the matter variables (see Box 2) in imitation of the Newtonian
gravitational potential
A consistent post-Newtonian limit requires determination of correct through
,
through
, and
through
(for details see TEGP 4.1 [281
]). The only way that one
metric theory differs from another is in the numerical values of the coefficients that appear in front of the
metric potentials. The parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism inserts parameters in place of these
coefficients, parameters whose values depend on the theory under study. In the current version of the
PPN formalism, summarized in Box 2, ten parameters are used, chosen in such a manner that
they measure or indicate general properties of metric theories of gravity (see Table 2). Under
reasonable assumptions about the kinds of potentials that can be present at post-Newtonian
order (basically only Poisson-like potentials), one finds that ten PPN parameters exhaust the
possibilities.
|
The parameters and
are the usual Eddington-Robertson-Schiff parameters used to describe the
“classical” tests of GR, and are in some sense the most important; they are the only non-zero parameters in
GR and scalar-tensor gravity. The parameter
is non-zero in any theory of gravity that predicts
preferred-location effects such as a galaxy-induced anisotropy in the local gravitational constant
(also
called “Whitehead” effects);
,
,
measure whether or not the theory predicts post-Newtonian
preferred-frame effects;
,
,
,
,
measure whether or not the theory predicts violations of
global conservation laws for total momentum. In Table 2 we show the values these parameters
take
Semi-conservative theories have five free PPN parameters (,
,
,
,
) while fully conservative
theories have three (
,
,
).
The PPN formalism was pioneered by Kenneth Nordtvedt [197], who studied the post-Newtonian metric
of a system of gravitating point masses, extending earlier work by Eddington, Robertson and Schiff
(TEGP 4.2 [281]). Will [274] generalized the framework to perfect fluids. A general and unified version of
the PPN formalism was developed by Will and Nordtvedt. The canonical version, with conventions altered
to be more in accord with standard textbooks such as [189
], is discussed in detail in TEGP 4 [281
]. Other
versions of the PPN formalism have been developed to deal with point masses with charge, fluid with
anisotropic stresses, bodies with strong internal gravity, and post-post-Newtonian effects (TEGP 4.2,
14.2 [281
]).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Box 2. The Parametrized Post-Newtonian formalism
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