The Speed of the Gravity.pdfVIP

Article Theoretical Physics doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5603-3 Observational evidences for the speed of the gravity based on the Earth tide TANG KeYun1,2*, HUA ChangCai3, WEN Wu1, CHI ShunLiang4, YOU QingYu1 YU Dan5 1 Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; 2 National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; 3 Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100081, China; 4 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 5 Network Center of China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100045, China Received September 17, 2012; accepted October 16, 2012 We have found that the current practical Newtonian formula for the gravity tide of the Earth implies a hypothesis that gravity travels at the speed of light; furthermore, we have derived and solved the propagation equation of gravity using the observation data of Earth tides from Shiquanhe and Wushi, after correction of phase lag due to the anelasticity of the Earth, and found that the speeds of gravity are from 0.93 to 1.05 times the speed of light with a relative error of about 5%. This provides first set of strong evidences to show that the speed of gravity is the same as the speed of light. Earth tide, apparent position, phase lag, speed of light, speed of gravity, propagation equation of gravity Citation: Tang K Y, Hua C C, Wen W, et al. Observational evidences for the speed of the gravity based on the Earth tide. Chin Sci Bull, doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5603-3 1 Introduction of gravitation and Earth tide Although the theory of gravity was proposed much earlier than the theory of electromagnetism, the latter is much more clearly understood by the scientific community whereas many questions remain on the nature of the former. It is well known that Newton’s law of gravitation is a theory of action at a distance, i.e. gravity can be instantaneously transmitted to any place, or the speed of gravity is infi