Measurement of the Solar Gravitational Deflection of Radio Waves Using Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry

Lebach, D.E.; Corey, B.E.; Shapiro, I.I.; Ratner, M.I.; Webber, J.C.; Rogers, A.E.E.; Davis, J.L.; Herring, T.A.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1439

Measurement of the Solar Gravitational Deflection of Radio Waves Using Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry

D.E. Lebach
(
- Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.
)
,
B.E. Corey
(
- MIT
)
,
I.I. Shapiro
(
- Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.
)
,
M.I. Ratner
(
- Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.
)
,
J.C. Webber
(
- MIT
)

Aug 21, 1995

3 pages

Published in:

Phys.Rev.Lett. 75 (1995) 1439-1442

DOI:

10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1439

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Abstract: (APS)

We made very-long-baseline-interferometry observations of the extragalactic radio sources 3C273B and 3C279 to measure the gravitational deflection of radio waves by the Sun. Cross-correlation of data recorded at antennas in California and Massachusetts at 2, 8, and 23 GHz during a ten-day period surrounding the October 1987 solar occultation of 3C279 yielded plasma-corrected group delays, from which we obtained γ=0.9996±0.0017 (estimated standard error), corresponding to a gravitational deflection 0.9998±0.0008 times that predicted by general relativity.