APOLLO: millimeter lunar laser ranging

Abstract

Lunar laser ranging (LLR) has for decades stood at the forefront of tests of gravitational physics, including tests of the equivalence principle (EP). Current LLR results on the EP achieve a sensitivity of Δa/a ≈ 10−13 based on few-centimeter data/model fidelity. A recent push in LLR, called APOLLO (the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation) produces millimeter-quality data. This paper demonstrates the few-millimeter range precision achieved by APOLLO, leading to an expectation that LLR will be able to extend EP sensitivity by an order-of-magnitude to Δa/a ∼ 10−14, once modeling efforts improve to this level.