Paper detail

Phenomenological constraints on the Kehagias-Sfetsos solution in the Horava-Lifshitz gravity from solar system orbital motions

We focus on Horava-Lifshitz (HL) theory of gravity, and, in particular, on the Kehagias and Sfetsos s solution that is the analog of Schwarzschild black hole of General Relativity. In the weak-field and slow-motion approximation we analytically work out the secular precession of the longitude of the pericentre of a test particle induced by this solution. Its analytical form is different from that of the general relativistic Einstein's pericentre precession. Then, we compare it to the latest determinations of the corrections to the standard Newtonian/ Einsteinian planetary perihelion precessions recently estimated by E.V. Pitjeva with the EPM2008 ephemerides. It turns out that the planets of the solar system, taken singularly one at a time, allow to put lower bounds on the adimensional HL parameter ψ_0 of the order of 10^-12 (Mercury) 10^-24 (Pluto). They are not able to account for the Pioneer anomalous acceleration for r > 20 AU.