week ending PRL 108, 110801 (2012) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 16 MARCH 2012
Global Positioning System Test of the Local Position Invariance of Planck’s Constant
J. Kentosh* and M. Mohageg† Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California 91330-8268, USA (Received 1 December 2011; published 15 March 2012) Publicly available clock correction data from the Global Positioning System was analyzed and used in combination with the results of terrestrial clock comparison experiments to confirm the local position invariance (LPI) of Planck’s constant within the context of general relativity. The results indicate that h is invariant within a limit of j hj < 0:007, where h is a dimensionless parameter that represents the extent of LPI violation.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.110801 PACS numbers: 06.20.Jr, 04.80.Cc, 06.30.Ft
2 Many experiments and observations have tested possible fxo=fo ¼ 1 þð1 þ fÞ U=c ; (1) variations of fundamental constants, particularly the fine- structure constant [1]. Though most results have been where fo is the frequency measured by an observer at point null, studies of quasar absorption spectra suggest a small O when the clock is at O, and fxo is the frequency when the change in over the past 8 109 years across the observ- clock is at x as measured from the reference frame at O. able Universe [2]. If were to vary as suggested by those The potential difference is U ¼ Ux Uo, where Ui ¼ 2 results, that would imply a change in at least one of the i vi =2, i is the gravitational potential energy per unit 2 parameters that comprise ¼ e =4 "o@c [3]. In this mass, and vi is the clock’s velocity. The dimensionless Letter, data from the global positioning system (GPS) is parameter f represents the extent of LPI violation for analyzed in combination with prior terrestrial clock com- atomic clock frequencies. parison experiments [4] to establish bounds on the invari- The GPS uses atomic clocks on the ground and in orbit. ance of Planck’s constant h. The GPS is operated on GPS time, a continuous time scale This analysis provides a test of ‘‘local position invari- that can be related to coordinated universal time (UTC). To ance’’ (LPI), which states that in local, freely falling frames correct for clock drift, a clock correction for each satellite the outcome of any nongravitational experiment is indepen- is broadcast as part of the navigation signal. GPS satellite dent of where and when in the Universe it is performed [5]. orbits have eccentricities generally less than 0.02 [10]. This principle is a variation of Einstein’s equivalence prin- At apogee, a satellite has a slower speed and higher gravi- ciple relating gravitational fields to the accelerations of tational potential, which cause its clock to run faster than at bodies in free space. Nevertheless, as a macroscopic theory perigee and faster than a clock on the ground. Corrections of gravity, general relativity tells us little about h. Thus, for this effect are made in GPS, based on general experimental evidence of its invariance is necessary. relativity [10,11]. The standard model extension (SME) has been devel- We analyzed GPS satellite data made available on the oped partly to study possible variations in fundamental Internet by the International GNSS Service (IGS) [12]. The constants [1,6,7]. A less broad approach is used herein, IGS ‘‘final’’ product in SP3-c format was used, in which based on the assumption that general relativity correctly GPS satellite positions and clock corrections are published describes macroscopic phenomena. The observable effects for every 15 min of GPS time. Positions are precise to of a variable h are deduced from the invariance of the 1 mm and clock corrections are precise to 1 ps [13]. A proper energy of atomic transitions. This approach pro- single SP3 file includes position and clock correction data vides a consistency check of general relativity, and our for 32 GPS satellites for one GPS day. The information in results may be relevant to the review of recent observations the files is based on data collected by IGS from the 32 of superluminal neutrinos [8]. satellites, 12 GPS control stations, and approximately 350 The analysis proceeds in three steps. First, we use GPS ground stations [14]. data to determine LPI limits for atomic clocks. Then we Of the 32 GPS satellites, seven were chosen that had incorporate the results of clock experiments to determine more eccentric orbits and the most stable clocks: 2, 11, 18, LPI limits for time dilation. Finally, we use both results to 21, 26, 28, and 32. Those satellites had the lowest ratios of estimate the invariance of Planck’s constant. the standard deviation of their changes in clock corrections Using the standard convention (e.g., [9]), for expressing to the theoretical range in clock rates for that satellite. violations of LPI to first order in a gravitational field, the Satellite eccentricities ranged from 0.01 to 0.02. atomic transition frequency used in an atomic clock at x The clock corrections published by IGS do not include and at some arbitrary reference point O—such as a terres- the general relativistic corrections for the eccentricities of trial laboratory—can be related as follows: the GPS satellites. It is left to the user to calculate and add
0031-9007=12=108(11)=110801(4) 110801-1 Ó 2012 American Physical Society week ending PRL 108, 110801 (2012) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 16 MARCH 2012 those effects [15]. Since we did not have to subtract it out, ideal, circular GPS orbit corresponding to a radius of the missing relativistic component to the clock corrections 26 561.75 km, representing GPS time. (GPS satellites’ simplified the analysis. clocks are adjusted to run more slowly prelaunch so that To find f the changes in the IGS-published clock when they reach orbit, they run at GPS time.) Tep is the corrections of the GPS satellites over each 15 min interval ‘‘epoch time,’’ which is the 15 min interval between clock were analyzed. One year of such data was reduced, span- corrections. ning the time period from April 2010 through May 2011, The coordinates in the SP3 files are published in an including extra days used for averaging. For each satellite, Earth-fixed reference frame. A satellite’s velocity relative 95 changes in its clock correction during each day were to the Earth’s nonrotating frame was interpolated from its plotted as a function of its distance from the Earth’s center. instantaneous radial distance, using Newtonian gravity. For (The 96th spanned two SP3 files and was omitted for an ideal, circular GPS orbit, this method reproduces the simplicity.) A representative plot is shown in Fig. 1. standard velocity vGPS of 3873.83 m=s, used as a baseline Since the relativistic eccentricity effect is not included in in Eq. (3). the published clock corrections, changes to those correc- The mean offset of the changes in clock corrections from tions should not vary with distance from the Earth’s center. zero in Fig. 1 indicates how much faster or slower a Standard theory predicts the slope m of the linear fit in satellite’s clock is advancing than GPS time. That has no Fig. 1 to be zero. The small slope evident in Fig. 1, bearing on the current analysis. Of interest is how the extracted by a linear least-squares regression fit to the changes in clock corrections might vary with radial dis- data, might be explained by a nonzero f. A nonzero slope tance from the Earth’s center. could also be caused by any number of effects on satellite The best fit slope and the corresponding daily values for clock corrections, including random errors and atmos- f were calculated for the seven satellites, for each day in pheric effects. the test period, with 2749 plots generated. (The clock data To estimate conservatively large bounds for f, all non- were partially missing or corrupted on some days.) zero slopes were attributed to f. The slope m in Fig. 1 is Results for three representative satellites are shown in related to a possible nonzero value of f by Figs. 2(a)–2(c). The plots of f exhibit significant daily variations, and ¼ mðr r Þ=ð2 T Þ; f a p max (2) an annual oscillation that varied among satellites. The daily variations were consistent in magnitude among the satel- where ra is the apogee radius, rp is the perigee radius, and lites. The annual oscillations are likely caused by atmos- Tmax is the maximum theoretical clock correction of a pheric effects. The maxima of these oscillations roughly satellite at apogee, given by the following, adapted coincide with a semimajor axis aligned with Eurasia and from [16]: the Pacific Ocean, an orientation that shifts 360 over a 2 2 2 Tmax ¼ Tepð a va=2 GPS þ vGPS=2Þ=c : (3) year.
In this equation, a and va are the gravitational potential per unit mass and velocity of a satellite at apogee, respec- 0.05 Satellite 2 0.05 Sat 18 tively; and GPS and vGPS are the same for a satellite in an
0 0 2.5 (a) (b) −0.05 −0.05 2 100 200 300 100 200 300
1.5 0.05 Sat 32
1 0 (d)
0.5 (c)
Change in Clock Correction (ns) −0.05 0 100 200 300 −0.005 0 0.005 26 400 26 600 26 800 Day of test year Radial Distance (km)
FIG. 1. Changes in IGS-published clock corrections every FIG. 2 (color online). Daily and filtered values of f for 1 yr 15 min for satellite 18 on 6/10/10, plotted against distance for (a) satellite 2, (b) satellite 18, (c) satellite 32. Satellite 2 had from the Earth’s center. The uncertainty in the ordinate is , the least annual oscillation; satellite 32 had the greatest range in as published in the SP3 files. The least-squares linear fit has a f. (d) Combined probability distribution of filtered f for 7 small slope m. satellites for 1 yr.
110801-2 week ending PRL 108, 110801 (2012) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 16 MARCH 2012
Time-series and Fourier analysis of the data was used to light rather than Planck’s constant. An invariant c means develop appropriate digital filters to remove yearly, bi- that the locally measured (proper) rates of suitably config- monthly, and daily variations driven by nongravitational ured resonator clocks will not vary with position, even if h effects. To remove the annual oscillation, a least-squares fit varies. (Some resonator clocks are locked to an atomic was computed using y ¼ A þ B cosð2 t=1yrþ Þ, frequency and would depend on h [18].) Therefore, a where A, B, and are fit parameters. The resonator clock measures proper time and can be used to B cosð2 t=1yrþ Þ term was subtracted from the daily determine t. values. Based on the frequency distribution in the Fourier Comparisons between atomic clocks (hydrogen masers) analysis, we then used a 51-day moving average to filter and cryogenic sapphire oscillators (CSO) have been per- out short-term fluctuations in f. The filtered data for three formed at the Paris Observatory [4] and other laboratories satellites (2, 11, 32) exhibited a sawtooth-shaped oscilla- (e.g., [19]). Tobar et al. summarize that work and show that tion with a 120-day period, of unknown origin. That oscil- little measurable difference is observed as the Earth moves lation was filtered out for those three satellites in the same in its elliptical orbit within the gravitational potential of the 4 way as the annual oscillations. The limits on f were most sun, within a limit of Hmaser CSO ¼ 2:7ð1:4Þ 10 sensitive to filtering out the annual oscillations, but less for annual variations [4]. The relative rates of atomic and sensitive to the duration of the rolling average or to remov- resonator clocks differ little with gravitational potential. ing the 120-day oscillations. The residual daily values of Once a GPS satellite reaches orbit, the clock experi- f for three satellites are shown with solid lines in ments [4] indicate that a resonator clock and an atomic Figs. 2(a)–2(d). clock on the satellite would advance at the same relative The residual values of f from seven satellites exhibit the rates. Therefore, the variations in clock corrections should bell-shaped distribution shown in Fig. 2(d). A small residual apply equally to resonator clocks, and can be used to t mean of f ¼ 0:0003 was present. We cannot rule out GPS determine a limit on . In other words, within a GPS orbit systemic errors as its source. Based on a 95% confidence we can treat GPS atomic clocks as a surrogate for resonator clocks, so that t f. level, the following limits were found: 0:0027 <