Abstract
An analysis of six years of lunar-laser-ranging data gives a zero amplitude for the Nordtvedt term in the Earth-Moon distance yielding the Nordtvedt parameter Thus, Earth's gravitational self-energy contributes equally, ±3%, to its inertial mass and passive gravitational mass. At the 70% confidence level this result is only consistent with the Brans-Dicke theory for . We obtain for five-parameter parametrized post-Newtonian theories of gravitation with energy-momentum conservation, or if only and are considered.
- Received 8 December 1975
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.36.551
©1976 American Physical Society