Relativistic Effects in Local Inertial Frames Including PPN Effects.

In this dissertation we use the concept of a generalized Fermi frame to describe the relativistic effects on a body placed in a local inertial frame of reference due to local and distant sources of gravitation. We have considered, in particular, a model, consisted of two spherically symmetric gravitating sources, moving in circular orbits around a common barycenter where one of the bodies is chosen to be the local and the other the distant one. This has been done in the Parametrized-Post-Newtonian formalism using the slow motion, weak field approximation. The PPN parameters used are (gamma), (beta), (zeta)(,1) and (zeta)(,2). We show that the main relativistic effect on a local satellite is described by the Schwarzchild field of the local body and the nonlinear term corresponding to the self-interaction of the local source itself. There are also much smaller terms that are proportional to the product of the potentials of local and distant bodies and distant body's self interactions. The spatial axis of the local frame undergoes Geodetic precession. Effects involving the parameters (zeta)(,1) and (zeta)(,2) seem to be slightly too small to be observable at the present time. In addition we have found accelerations that vanish in the general relativity limit.