Frame-dragging effects in a gravitational quantum field theory (2411.04460v2)

Abstract: Analogous to magnetism in electrodynamics, it is gravitomagnetism in relativistic gravity. Since gravity determines locally inertial frames, in general relativity (GR) and other relativistic theories of gravity, frame-dragging with source motion plays a key role in gravitomagnetism. Recently, Wu has put forward a gauge theory of gravity, called the gravitational quantum field theory (GQFT), with the gravitational force and the spin gauge force described by the gauge fields. Gao {\it et al.} ({\it Phy. Rev. D 109, 064072}) have derived the Shapiro time delay in the GQFT and given an empirical constraint from the Cassini experimental result on the dimensionless GQFT parameter $\gamma_W$ to be $(2.1\pm 2.3)\times 10^{-5}$. In this work, we derive the frame-dragging Lense-Thirring effects in the GQFT. The current precision of LARES-LAGEOS Lense-Thirring measurement gives a constraint on $|\gamma_W|$ to be less than $2\times 10^{-2}$. This constraint is consistent with, but subdominant to, the Cassini experimental constraint. As a candidate of quantum gravity, we do not expect that the deviation from the GR value ($\gamma_W=0$) is large, classically. With the launch of LARES 2, the precision of the Lense-Thirring measurement is expected to increase by one order of magnitude in a couple of years. As to the Shapiro effect, current technologies have the capability to measure the $\gamma_W$ parameter to a precision of $10^{-9}$.