Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle Uncertainty Analysis

Abstract

STEP, the Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle, is intended to test the apparent equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass to 1 part in 1018 (Worden et al. in Adv. Space Res. 25(6):1205–1208, 2000). This will be an increase of more than five orders of magnitude over ground-based experiments and lunar laser ranging observations (Su et al. in Phys. Rev. D 50:3614–3636, 1994; Williams et al. in Phys. Rev. D 53:6730–6739, 1996; Schlamminger et al. in Phys. Rev. Lett. 100:041101, 2008). It is essential to have a comprehensive and consistent model of the possible error sources in an experiment of this nature to be able to understand and set requirements, and to evaluate design trade-offs. In the following pages we describe existing software for such an error model and the application of this software to the STEP experiment. In particular we address several issues, including charge and patch effect forces, where our understanding has improved since the launch of GP-B owing to the availability of GP-B data and preliminary analysis results (Everitt et al. in Space Sci. Rev., 2009, this issue; Silbergleit et al. in Space Sci. Rev., 2009, this issue; Keiser et al. in Space Sci. Rev., 2009, this issue; Heifetz et al. in Space Sci. Rev., 2009, this issue; Muhlfelder et al. in Space Sci. Rev., 2009, this issue).