GRAVITY TESTS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE PIONEER ANOMALY

Abstract

We build up a new phenomenological framework associated with a minimal generalization of Einsteinian gravitation theory. When linearity, stationarity and isotropy are assumed, tests in the solar system are characterized by two potentials which generalize respectively the Newton potential and the parameter γ of parametrized post-Newtonian formalism. The new framework has the capability to account for the Pioneer anomaly while preserving the compatibility of other gravity tests with general relativity.