Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story:<\/p>\n
Einstein\u2019s Theory of General Relativity, an immensely important update to Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, is currently our best approximation of how the universe ticks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
But there are some holes in Einstein\u2019s theory, including some gravitational weirdness around low acceleration \u201cwide binary\u201d stars.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
A study claims that the behavior of these slow-moving celestial objects can\u2019t be explained by a Newton-Einstein theory, which relies on dark matter, but could be explained with an idea known as Modified Newtonian Dynamics, or MOND.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In 1687, English physicist Isaac Newton published his famous Law of Universal Gravitation. The idea that all objects attract in proportion to their mass was a revolutionary idea that became a huge boon for understanding the ways of the universe<\/a>. But even Newton\u2019s influential work had its limitations\u2014specifically, it couldn\u2019t explain gravitational phenomena such as black holes and gravitational waves.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Albert Einstein came around in the early 20th century to help patch things up a bit with his Theory of General Relativity.<\/p>\n But space is a big place, and even Einsteins sometimes meet their limit. One of the most well-known of these limits is a black hole\u2019s<\/a> center, or singularity, where Einstein\u2019s famous theory appears to break down completely. Now, a study from scientists at South Korea\u2019s Sejong University suggests that another limit<\/a> to Newton and Einstein\u2019s conception of gravity can be found in the orbital motions of long-period, widely separated, binary stars\u2014also known simply as \u201cwide binaries.\u201d The results of this study were published<\/a> in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n After analyzing 26,500 wide binaries<\/a> within 650 lightyears captured by the European Space Agency\u2019s Gaia space observatory, co-author Kyu-Hyun Chae discovered something strange\u2014when these celestial objects achieved extremely low orbital accelerations around 0.1 nanometers per second squared, the observed accelerations were nearly 30 to 40 percent higher than Newton-Einstein models would predict. However, if these accelerations were above 10 nanometers per second squared, they followed the Newton-Einstein theory as predicted. Something weird is happening specifically at these ultra-low accelerations.<\/p>\n In the standard model of gravity, this is where concepts of dark matter<\/a> become vitally important. Because scientists don\u2019t know anything about this hypothetical form of matter and energy that supposedly makes up a majority of the universe<\/a>, it\u2019s possible that dark matter is influencing this strange gravitational interaction. However, Chae argues that Modified Newtonian Dynamics, or MOND\u2014first proposed by Israeli scientist Mordehai Milgrom<\/a> in 1983\u2014could explain (among other galactic anomalies) these low acceleration deviations.<\/p>\n The most surprising element is that a MOND-influenced theory of gravity\u2014also co-authored by Milgrom\u2014explains this unexpected 1.4 times acceleration<\/a> boost. This theory is called a A Quadratic Lagrangian<\/a>, or AQUAL, and Chae says his work \u201crepresents a direct evidence for the breakdown of standard gravity at weak acceleration.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis systematic deviation agrees with the boost factor that the AQUAL theory predicts for kinematic accelerations in circular orbits under the Galactic external field,\u201d Chae says in the paper.<\/p>\n Similar to how the Newton-Einstein theory relies on the ever-elusive particle known as dark matter, MOND contains its own limitations and challenges<\/a>. Chae\u2019s study appears to be a big +1 in the pro column for Modified Newtonian Dynamics, but the theory is still just that\u2014a theory. It will need much more observational support before it upends our modern understanding of gravity and the universe<\/a> we inhabit.<\/p>\n You Might Also Like<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story: Einstein\u2019s Theory of General Relativity, an immensely important update…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3845],"tags":[134315,23755,170513,134313,6678,71903,134312,134314,74,70,38907,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-697149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-acceleration","9":"tag-albert-einstein","10":"tag-binary-stars","11":"tag-celestial-objects","12":"tag-dark-matter","13":"tag-isaac-newton","14":"tag-modified-newtonian-dynamics","15":"tag-newton-einstein","16":"tag-physics","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-theory-of-general-relativity","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115897899901227649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}