Constraining Yukawa gravity from planetary motion in the solar system

Abstract

In this work we used the observed additional perihelion precession in the Solar System, obtained from the observations of planets and spacecrafts, to study the possible existence of Yukawa correction term to the Newtonian gravitational potential. Our study was motivated by previous analyses which indicated the possible discrepancies from Newtonian gravity in this form and at wide range of astrophysical scales. Yukawa gravity was introduced to cure some shortcomings of General Relativity (GR) at galactic and extragalactic scales. We demonstrated that this form of gravity can give the values for orbital precession which are comparable or even in better agreement with observations than the corresponding predictions of GR. The obtained results can be used for setting stronger constraints on variation of the gravitational constant G, as well as on the fundamental constant δ of Yukawa gravity. Moreover, Yukawa gravity could be used to improve the results for the motion of planets, other Solar System bodies, as well as spacecrafts, and as a consequence, it can help us to get more reliable predictions for natural hazards in the Solar System, such as potential impacts by near-Earth objects.