Abstract
We use the planetary ephemeris INPOP17b to constrain the existence of a Yukawa suppression to the Newtonian potential, generically associated with the graviton’s mass. We also give an interpretation of this result for a specific case of fifth force framework. We find that the residuals for the Cassini spacecraft significantly (90% C.L.) degrade for Compton wavelengths of the graviton smaller than , which correspond to a graviton mass bigger than . This limit is comparable in magnitude to the one obtained by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration in the radiative regime. We also use this specific example to defend that constraints on alternative theories of gravity obtained from postfit residuals may be generically overestimated.
- Received 14 January 2019
- Revised 15 April 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.161103
© 2019 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
Limits on the Graviton from Planetary Orbits
Published 18 October 2019
A new analysis improves on estimates of the upper limit on the mass of the graviton particle using Solar System data.
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