Professor Kyu-Hyun Chae, head of the astrophysics research group at Sejong University in South Korea, claims that during the study of the motion of the so-called wide binaries, they discovered anomalies that cannot be explained by either the Newtonian model of gravity or Einstein’s theory of general relativity. What’s more, according to the South Korean scientist, the discovered phenomena go beyond the general theory of relativity, questioning the validity of some of Einstein’s predictions.
The gravitational field itself is an acceleration
One new study reports compelling evidence for the breakdown of standard gravity in the low-acceleration limit from verifiable analyzes of the orbital motions of long-period distant binaries—known as wide binaries in astronomy and astrophysics.
Kyu-Hyun Chae, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Sejong University in Seoul Source: Sejong University
A group of scientists led by Kyu-Hyun Chae, professor of physics and astronomy at Sejong University in Seoul, examined 26,500 wide binaries, or double stars, within 650 light-years using the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope.
Artist’s rendering of a binary star system Source: NASA
Chae’s study focused on calculating the gravitational acceleration of binary stars as a function of their separation, or equivalently, their orbital period. “It seemed clear to me from the beginning that gravity could be tested most directly and efficiently by calculating accelerations, since the gravitational field itself is an acceleration. My recent research experience with galactic rotation curves led me to this idea.
The galaxies we know are among the brightest objects in the universe Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
– The movement of the arms of the galactic disks and wide binaries (double stars, a ed.) has a similar orbit, although the wide binaries follow highly elongated orbits, while the hydrogen gas particles in the arms of the galactic disks move in nearly circular orbits,” said the author of the study, Professor Kyu-Hyun Chae.
A disturbing, unexplained anomaly was discovered in the motion of the binary stars
The research found that when two stars orbit each other with an acceleration of less than about 1 nm/s2, their behavior begins to diverge from the predictions of Newton’s law of universal gravitation and Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
An artist’s rendering of a so-called wide binary system Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In the case of accelerations smaller than approximately 0.1 nm/s2, the observed acceleration is approximately 30-40 percent greater than what would follow from Newton’s and Einstein’s predictions, that is, the observed phenomenon contradicts both Isaac Newton’s classical theory of gravity and Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
Albert Einstein created the general theory of relativity and the concept of space-time Source: Popper Foto/Getty Images
Since the observed accelerations stronger than about 10 nm/s2 agree well with the Newton-Einstein prediction from the same analysis, the observed increase in acceleration at lower accelerations is simply an unexplained mystery at present.
Sir Isaac Newton. Newton’s laws of gravity founded modern physics Source: commons.wikimedia.org
What is remarkable, however, is that the theoretical physicist Mordehai Milgrom, a specialist scientist at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, noticed this error of the Newton-Einstein theory forty years ago, and to eliminate it, he proposed a new theory, which he modified called Newtonian dynamics (MOND) or Milgrom dynamics is called in theoretical physics.
The hitherto unobserved dark matter does not exist either
Regarding the research results achieved so far, Chae stated the following: “It seems impossible that an unknown system could cause such an acceleration-dependent change in standard gravity. In this regard, I have examined all the theoretical possibilities as described in the rather long publication.
The results are real.
I am sure that the results so far will be confirmed and further refined with newer and better resolution data in the future. For this purpose and in order to serve scientists interested in the topic, I have made all research results available.”
The Messier M 101 galaxy. Until now, the dynamics of galaxy arms has been explained by the interposition of hypothetical dark matter Source: ESA/Hubble
Unlike the rotation curves of galaxies, in which the increased acceleration is attributed to the hypothetical dark matter in the Newtonian-Einstein standard model of gravity, the dynamics of wide binaries could not be affected by this hypothesized dark matter, even if it actually existed.
According to the MOND framework, standard gravity simply breaks down in the weak acceleration limit.
The existence of the supposed dark energy was also predicted by Einstein’s cosmological constant Source: TrendinTech
Therefore, the discovery – if it is confirmed by further control measurements – would mean
that the mysterious and hitherto never observed dark matter does not exist either.
In astrophysics, the hypothetical dark matter is currently used to explain why galaxies do not fall apart, and why galaxy arms form in the observed form, even though there are too few stars and interstellar (interstellar) matter in them.
A “no dark matter” galaxy, NGC 1277 is located near the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster, 240 million light years from Earth. Source: https://www.iac.es/en/outreach/news/puzzle-galaxy-no-dark matter
The hypothesis of dark matter was introduced to “replace” the missing gravitational force according to the calculations. MOND makes the assumption of dark matter unnecessary, as it provides an explanation for the observed gravitational effects in the theory itself.
A new revolution may begin in theoretical physics
The recently discovered consequences of the dynamics of wide binaries may have profound implications for astrophysics, theoretical physics and cosmology. Despite all the previous successes of Newton’s theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity was needed to interpret such relativistic gravitational phenomena as black holes and gravitational waves, which could no longer be explained by classical Newtonian physics.
Artist’s rendering of a black hole Source: Science Photo Library/MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Mark Garlick/Science Photo Libra
In the same way, despite all the success of the general theory of relativity, MOND phenomena at the weak acceleration limit also require a new theory. The acceleration anomalies of wide binaries thus pose a serious challenge to both standard gravity and cosmology, which currently rely on the hypothetical dark matter and dark energy concepts. Since gravity follows MOND, large amounts of dark matter are no longer needed to interpret processes that could only be explained with this.
The acceleration anomalies of binary systems cannot be explained by the Newtonian-Einsteinian gravity model Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This also came as a big surprise to the head of the research team, Kyu-Hyun Chae,
who, as a typical scientist, himself believed in dark matter.
It seems that a new revolution in physics is about to begin. Mordehai Milgrom, the “father” of MOND, said the following about current results and future prospects:
Theoretical physicist Mordehai Milgrom, the “father” of MOND Source: Wikimedia Commons
„Chae’s finding is the result of a very thorough analysis of state-of-the-art data, which, as far as I can tell, he did very meticulously and carefully. But such a far-reaching discovery really needs to be confirmed by very far-reaching independent analyses, preferably with better future data. If this anomaly is verified as a breakdown of Newtonian dynamics, and especially if it does indeed match the simplest predictions of MOND, it will have enormous implications for astrophysics, cosmology, and physics itself in general.” The original publication here, a The Astophysical Journal can be read in a trade journal.
2023-08-27 16:33:00
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