Testing Local Lorentz Invariance with Laser Tracking of the LAGEOS II satellite

A breakdown of Lorentz Invariance is predicted by some theories as a result of quantum physics applied to gravity or for the presence of vector/tensor fields, beside the metric tensor of General Relativity, mediating the gravitational interaction. A violation of Lorentz Invariance would manifest itself, in the gravitational sector, mainly through a non-zero value of the post-Newtonian parameter $\alpha_1$, that is null in General Relativity. In this paper we describe a test of Local Lorentz Invariance considering the effect of a possible preferred frame, that of the cosmic microwave background, on the orbit of the LAGEOS II satellite tracked by the Satellite Laser Ranging technique. We constrain this parameter down to the level of $3\times10^{-5}$, improving a previous limit obtained through the Lunar Laser Ranging technique.