An up-to-date description of progress and current problems with the gravitational constant, both in terms of generalized gravitational theories and experiments either in the laboratory, using Casimir force measurements, or in space at solar system distances and in cosmological observations. Contributions cover different aspects of the state and prediction of unified theories of the physical interactions including gravitation as a cardinal link, the role of experimental gravitation and observational cosmology in discriminating between them, the problem of the precise measurement and stability of fundamental physical constants in space and time, and the gravitational constant in particular. Recent advances discussed include unified and scalar-tensor theories, theories in diverse dimensions and their observational windows, gravitational experiments in space, rotational and torsional effects in gravity, basic problems in cosmology, early universe as an arena for testing unified models, and big bang nucleosynthesis.

This is a revised edition of a classic and highly regarded book, first published in 1981, describing the status of theory and experiment in general relativity. The book provides all the necessary theoretical background, and covers all the important experimental tests. A new chapter has been added to cover recent important experimental tests, and the bibliography has been brought right up to date. Reviews of the previous edition: ' ... consolidates much of the literature on experimental gravity and should be invaluable to researchers in gravitation ...' Science ' ... a concise and meaty book ... and a most useful reference work ... researchers and serious students of gravitation should be pleased with it ...' Nature

An up-to-date description of progress and current problems with the gravitational constant, both in terms of generalized gravitational theories and experiments either in the laboratory, using Casimir force measurements, or in space at solar system distances and in cosmological observations. Contributions cover different aspects of the state and prediction of unified theories of the physical interactions including gravitation as a cardinal link, the role of experimental gravitation and observational cosmology in discriminating between them, the problem of the precise measurement and stability of fundamental physical constants in space and time, and the gravitational constant in particular. Recent advances discussed include unified and scalar-tensor theories, theories in diverse dimensions and their observational windows, gravitational experiments in space, rotational and torsional effects in gravity, basic problems in cosmology, early universe as an arena for testing unified models, and big bang nucleosynthesis.

The 2015 centenary of the publication of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and the first detection of gravitational waves have focused renewed attention on the question of whether Einstein was right. This review of experimental gravity provides a detailed survey of the intensive testing of Einstein's theory of gravity, including tests in the emerging strong-field dynamical regime. It discusses the theoretical frameworks needed to analyze gravitational theories and interpret experiments. Completely revised and updated, this new edition features coverage of new alternative theories of gravity, a unified treatment of gravitational radiation, and the implications of the latest binary pulsar observations. It spans the earliest tests involving the Solar System to the latest tests using gravitational waves detected from merging black holes and neutron stars. It is a comprehensive reference for researchers and graduate students working in general relativity, cosmology, particle physics and astrophysics.

Pt. I. Null experiments. Eörvös experiment -- Space isotropies -- The ether drift experiments -- pt. II. Three famous tests of general relativity. The gravitational red shift -- The gravitational deflection of light -- The perihelion rotation of Mercury -- Cosmic experiments -- Appendix I. Experimental tests of Mach's principle -- Appendix II. Mach's principle and invariance under transformation of units -- Appendix III. Long-range scalar interaction -- Appendix IV. Field theories of gravitation -- Appendix V. Cosmology, Mach's principle and relativity -- Appendix VI. Significance of spatial isotropy -- Appendix VII. Mach's principle and a relativistic theory of gravitation -- Appendix VIII. Lee-Yang vector field and isotropy of the universe -- Appendix IX. The earth and cosmology -- Appendix X. Implications for cosmology of stellar and galactic evolution rates -- Appendix XI. Dating the galaxy by uranium decay -- Appendix XII. Dirac's cosmology and the dating of meteorites.

'The book concentrates attention on extended alternative theories of gravity and on the best astrophysical laboratories to probe the strong gravity-field regime: black holes, pulsars and neutron stars … Readers will likely share the satisfaction the editor and contributors say they experienced as they organized the book.'SirReadaLotFor more than a century, our understanding of gravitational physics was based on Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity, which fundamentally changed our understanding of the Universe, its origin, and its evolutionary process. General Relativity accurately describes a large number of phenomena on very different scales. As such, it has been very well tested and its remarkable predictions are compatible with most experimental and observational data. However, the observational and experimental results compatible with General Relativity fall in its vast majority under the weak gravitational field regime. In recent years, discrepancies between the data and the corresponding predictions of General Relativity have been observed and have generated intense research activity. One of the most critical aspects of General Relativity is the presence of singularities in extreme physical situations. These discrepancies indicate that either the parameters of the theory must be modified in the regime of strong field gravity/high energy and large space-time curvature, or the theory itself should be modified. In this book, we focus our attention on extended alternative gravity theories and the best astrophysical laboratories to probe the strong field regime: black holes, pulsars, and neutron stars.