Weighing the Milky Way

Munawar Karim; Angelo Tartaglia; Ashfaque H. Bokhari

doi:10.1088/0264-9381/20/13/326

Weighing the Milky Way

Munawar Karim^*, Angelo Tartaglia, Ashfaque H. Bokhari

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We describe an experiment to measure the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. The experiment is based on calculated light travel times along radial and azimuthal directions in the Kerr metric of the galactic centre. We show that the difference is proportional to the galactic mass. We apply the result to light travel times in a 10 cm Michelson-type interferometer located on Earth. The mass of the galactic centre is shown to contribute 10^-6 to the flat space component of the metric. The result is also applicable to clock corrections in GPS navigation systems, to interpretations of the Michelson-Morley experiment and to the 'strong equivalence' principle. Experiments are proposed to measure the effects.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2815-2825
Number of pages	11
Journal	Classical and Quantum Gravity
Volume	20
Issue number	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/20/13/326
State	Published - 7 Jul 2003
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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10.1088/0264-9381/20/13/326

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title = "Weighing the Milky Way",

abstract = "We describe an experiment to measure the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. The experiment is based on calculated light travel times along radial and azimuthal directions in the Kerr metric of the galactic centre. We show that the difference is proportional to the galactic mass. We apply the result to light travel times in a 10 cm Michelson-type interferometer located on Earth. The mass of the galactic centre is shown to contribute 10-6 to the flat space component of the metric. The result is also applicable to clock corrections in GPS navigation systems, to interpretations of the Michelson-Morley experiment and to the 'strong equivalence' principle. Experiments are proposed to measure the effects.",

author = "Munawar Karim and Angelo Tartaglia and Bokhari, \{Ashfaque H.\}",

year = "2003",

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AU - Karim, Munawar

AU - Tartaglia, Angelo

AU - Bokhari, Ashfaque H.

PY - 2003/7/7

Y1 - 2003/7/7

N2 - We describe an experiment to measure the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. The experiment is based on calculated light travel times along radial and azimuthal directions in the Kerr metric of the galactic centre. We show that the difference is proportional to the galactic mass. We apply the result to light travel times in a 10 cm Michelson-type interferometer located on Earth. The mass of the galactic centre is shown to contribute 10-6 to the flat space component of the metric. The result is also applicable to clock corrections in GPS navigation systems, to interpretations of the Michelson-Morley experiment and to the 'strong equivalence' principle. Experiments are proposed to measure the effects.

AB - We describe an experiment to measure the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. The experiment is based on calculated light travel times along radial and azimuthal directions in the Kerr metric of the galactic centre. We show that the difference is proportional to the galactic mass. We apply the result to light travel times in a 10 cm Michelson-type interferometer located on Earth. The mass of the galactic centre is shown to contribute 10-6 to the flat space component of the metric. The result is also applicable to clock corrections in GPS navigation systems, to interpretations of the Michelson-Morley experiment and to the 'strong equivalence' principle. Experiments are proposed to measure the effects.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0038504446

U2 - 10.1088/0264-9381/20/13/326

DO - 10.1088/0264-9381/20/13/326

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SP - 2815

EP - 2825

JO - Classical and Quantum Gravity

JF - Classical and Quantum Gravity

IS - 13

ER -

Weighing the Milky Way

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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