RENOVATION NEWS Are Newton's Laws of Gravity Incorrect? An Observation Confuses Scientists
Astrophysicists have discovered a perplexing phenomenon when studying specific star groupings. The discovery calls into question Newton's principles of gravity. The data, however, are in line with the predictions of a different theory of gravity.
Findings cannot be accounted for by conventional notions.
While examining certain star clusters, an international team of astronomers uncovered an intriguing finding. The researchers argue in their report that the discovery calls into question Newton's principles of gravity. The data, however, are in line with the predictions of a different theory of gravity. The experts disagree on this, though. The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society has finally published the results. The study was heavily influenced by the University of Bonn.
The so-called open star clusters, which are loosely linked collections of a few tens to a few hundred stars seen in spiral and irregular galaxies, were the subject of the researchers' study. When thousands of stars are produced in a brief period of time in a massive gas cloud, open clusters are created. The remains of the gas cloud are blown away when the cosmic arrivals "ignite." The cluster substantially grows as a result of this. This results in a loose constellation of a few dozen to a few thousand stars. The weak
gravitational interactions that exist between the cluster's members keep it together.
Open star clusters typically last only a few hundred million years before disintegrating, according to Prof. Dr. Pavel Kroupa of the University of Bonn's Helmholtz Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Physics. They frequently lose stars in the process, which build up into two so-called "tidal tails." As it moves through space, one of these tails is drawn behind the cluster. The other, on the other hand, advances like a spearhead.
The location of a lost star is a question of chance, according to Newton's principles of gravity, says Dr. Jan Pflamm-Altenburg of the Helmholtz Institute of Radiation and Nuclear Physics. "Therefore, the number of stars in each tails should be similar. In contrast, we were able to demonstrate for the first time in our study that this is untrue: In the clusters we analyzed, the front tail consistently has a greater number of close stars than the back tail.
A new technique for counting stars has been created.
Up until recently, it has been very hard to pick out the stars that are a part of a cluster's tails from among the millions of stars nearby. Dr. Tereza Jerabkova adds that in order to achieve this, it is necessary to consider the age, direction of travel, and velocity of each of these things. The paper's co-author recently transferred from the European Space Agency (ESA) to the European Southern Observatory in Garching after completing her doctoral work in Kroupa's lab. She devised a technique that enabled her to preciselyFor the first time, count the stars in the tails. Five open clusters have been explored close to us thus far, including four by us, the author claims. We ran across a problem with the present hypothesis when we evaluated all the data. For this, the very accurate survey data from the ESA's Gaia satellite project were essential.
The number of stars (black) in the front tidal tail of the stellar cluster "Hyades" (top) is substantially higher than that in the back. Similar results are shown in the MOND computer simulation (below). AG Kroupa/University of Bonn
In contrast, the observational results suit a hypothesis known as MOND ("MOdified Newtonian Dynamics") among specialists far better. Simply put, Kroupa says, "according to MOND, stars can exit a cluster through two separate doorways." "One leads to the front, the other to the rear tidal tail. A star is less likely to depart the cluster through the first as it is significantly thinner than the second. On the other hand, Newton's theory of gravity suggests that both doors should have the same width.
Star clusters endure shorter lives than predicted by Newton's laws.
The astrophysicists' group computed the star distribution predicted by MOND. Dr. Ingo Thies, who was instrumental in developing the corresponding simulations, emphasizes that "the results agree remarkably well with the data." "However, in order to achieve this, we had to turn to rather straightforward computational techniques. The mathematical tools necessary to conduct more thorough investigations of modified Newtonian dynamics are currently unavailable. However, the simulations also agreed with the data in a different way. They made a prediction about the usual lifespan of open star clusters. Furthermore, this period of time is far less than would be predicted from Newton's rules. Kroupa notes that "this answers a puzzle that has been known for a long time." Specifically, star clusters in neighboring galaxies appear to be fading more quickly than they should.
Experts disagree, nevertheless, with the MOND idea. This would have profound effects on other branches of physics as well since Newton's equations of gravity would need to be amended in those situations when they would no longer be applicable. Kroupa, who is also a member of the University of Bonn's Transdisciplinary Research Areas "Modelling" and "Matter," adds that it also "solves many of the challenges that cosmology faces today." Astrophysicists are now investigating new mathematical techniques for models that are much more precise. They might then be applied to gather more proof for or against the MOND hypothesis.
