A team of astrophysicists has revealed an unusual discovery that they say appears to challenge our current understanding of gravity based on Newton’s law of universal gravitation, according to a recently published paper.
The controversial claim, published in the Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices, appears to be consistent with alternative interpretations of one of physics’ most mysterious fundamental interactions.
In their new study, an international team of astrophysicists say they came across the discovery while investigating open star clusters. These formations are created when a cloud of gas emerges after thousands of stars have been born within a relatively short period of time, the remnants of which are ejected when these star clusters ignite and begin to grow, which can lead to star formation. formation of several dozen to several thousand new stars.
The role of gravity in this process involves how weak gravitational forces essentially serve as the glue that holds these star clusters together and holds them together. Capable of surviving for hundreds of millions of years, these clusters eventually lose stars over time, resulting in the formation of a pair of “tidal tails”, one of which is drawn behind the cluster of stars open when propelled into space. while the other protrudes in front of the formation.
Based on Newton’s law of universal gravitation, we would expect the process of assigning the various stars of the cluster to one or another of these tidal tails to be entirely random. However, that wasn’t the case according to the team involved in the recent study, who found that one of the two tails was clearly able to outperform its star-catching counterpart.
“In the clusters we have studied, the front tail always contains many more stars close to the cluster than the back tail,” according to Dr Jan Pflamm-Altenburg, of the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics. .
“The asymmetry between the number of stars in the front and rear tails tests the gravitational theory,” the authors wrote in their paper.
Dr Tereza Jerabkova, one of the paper’s co-authors, says the research team was the first to develop the method used to calculate the number of stars that are allocated in the pair of tidal tails. in star clusters.
“When we analyzed all the data, we encountered [a] contradiction to current theory,” Jerabkova said in a statement, adding that the level of data precision available to the team in survey data from ESA’s pioneering Gaia mission had been “indispensable” in making their findings. observations.
If this is not the traditionally accepted Newtonian concept of gravity, then what does this conflicting new data seem to indicate about the weakest of the four fundamental forces?
The research team believe a theory of gravity involving what is aptly called Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) may offer the answer. MOND proponents argue that observations of galaxies and their properties point to the need to modify Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Significantly, such ideas could potentially solve problems such as the question of dark matter by offering alternative models to explain the behavior of galaxies, which in many cases do not seem to obey the laws of physics as we know them. currently understand.
“In simple terms, according to MOND, stars can leave a cluster through two different gates,” says Pavel Kroupa, the study’s lead author, who added that when a “gate” leads to the tidal tail oriented forward, and the other at the one behind the cluster.
However, as Kroupa notes, “the former is much narrower than the latter, so a star is less likely to leave the cluster through it.”
“Newton’s theory of gravity, on the other hand, predicts that both gates should be the same width,” Kroupa explains.
Although team members express that the current tools available to physicists that can help them analyze the potential changes required for Newtonian dynamics are limited, simulation-based calculations nonetheless appear capable of accurately predicting the duration life of open star clusters.
This, according to the research team, is much shorter than Newton’s laws seem to allow, and for Kroupa and his team, it could even explain the mystery of why star clusters in nearby galaxies of ours have been observed to disappear faster than astronomers. expect.
Of course, theories that require major changes to our existing models of how the universe works are generally slow to gain favor with scientists. Changes to Newton’s theory of gravity, while useful in helping to resolve observations such as those implicated in the team’s recent study, will also have wider implications that could potentially extend to virtually all areas of physics. But for Kroupa and his team, accepting and incorporating such ideas into our knowledge of the universe would be more useful overall than anything else.
“[I]This solves many of the problems that cosmology faces today,” Kroupa says.
The team’s paper, “Asymmetrical tidal tails of open star clusters: stars crossing the cluster’s práh challenge Newtonian gravitation”, was published in Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.
Micah Hanks is editor and co-founder of The Debrief. Follow his work on micahhanks.com and on Twitter: @MicahHanks.
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