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This question pertains to EM signals exchanged between an inertial central clock and an orbiting clock i.e. non-inertial frame. (I edited out the variables connected with gravity and separation between bodies)

This is how I found the frequency and wavelength received by clock (orbiting) as sent from clock (central). Hereafter let $$c=1$$ and angular speed as the proportion of c $$rω/c=β$$ so that the length contraction factor $$\gamma$$ for each instant in a rotating frame is given as $$γ=\sqrt{1-β^2}$$

Clock 2 is situated at the centre of clock 1’s uniform rotation. We can use the simplified formula $$f_1=f_2/\sqrt{1-β^2}$$ to determine the frequency of a signal that rotating clock 1 receives from central clock 2's emitted frequency.

Let central clock 2’s frequency=1, so $$f_2=1$$ Therefore, a familiar relation appears $$f_1 = 1/\sqrt{1 - β^2}$$ or just $$f_1=1/γ$$

The frequency of a signal and its wavelength in relation to the speed of light is given by $$c=fλ$$ Let's view this relation from rotating clock 1's frame. So, $$c_1=(1/γ*f_1)(γλ_1)$$ but from central clock 2's frame, we get the reciprocal $$c_2=(γf_2)(1/γ*λ_2)$$

Is this correct?

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  • $\begingroup$ You don't need to use the Schwarzschild metric for this. You could simplify the calculation a lot by just using $g_{tt}=e^{2\Phi}$, where $\Phi=-GM/r$. If you want to do a numerical check on your result using data for a GPS satellite, you can check it against my calculation here lightandmatter.com/genrel , ch. 2, example 12. $\endgroup$
    – user4552
    Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 15:37
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the extra information. Simply, I want to confirm if we just use $$f_1 = 1/\sqrt{1 - β^2}$$ for the frequency received in the rotating frame, and then just finding the reciprocal for the frequency received in the central frame $\endgroup$
    – argonaut
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 4:41

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