Abstract
We review the experimental evidence for Einstein’s general relativity. A variety of high-precision null experiments confirm the Einstein equivalence principle, which underlies the concept that gravitation is synonymous with spacetime geometry and must be described by a metric theory. Solar system experiments that test the weak-field, post-Newtonian limit of metric theories strongly favor general relativity. Binary pulsars test gravitational-wave damping and aspects of strong-field general relativity. The 2015 detection of gravitational waves by the laser interferometric gravitational-wave observatory LIGO provides new tests of the theory in the strong-field, radiative regime. Future efforts using electromagnetic and gravitational-wave astronomy will provide additional tests.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation, Grant No. PHY 06-52448, and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Grant No. NNG-06GI60G. The 2016 update of the article was supported by NSF Grant Nos. PHY 13-06069 and 16-00188. We are grateful for the hospitality of the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, where the initial version of this paper was prepared.
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Will, C.M. (2018). Putting General Relativity to the Test: Twentieth-Century Highlights and Twenty-First-Century Prospects. In: Rowe, D., Sauer, T., Walter, S. (eds) Beyond Einstein. Einstein Studies, vol 14. Birkhäuser, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7708-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7708-6_4
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