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Jan 9, 2024

Study of wide binary stars reveals new evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration

Posted by in category: space

A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal reveals new evidence for standard gravity breaking down in an idiosyncratic manner at low acceleration. This new study reinforces the evidence for modified gravity that was previously reported in 2023 from an analysis of the orbital motions of gravitationally bound, widely separated (or long-period) binary stars, known as wide binaries.

The new study was carried out by Kyu-Hyun Chae, a professor of physics and astronomy at Sejong University in Seoul, South Korea, with wide binaries observed by European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope.

Gravitational anomalies reported in 2023 by Chae’s study of wide binaries have the unique feature that orbital motions in binaries experience larger accelerations than Newtonian predictions when the mutual gravitational acceleration is weaker than about 1 nanometer per second squared and the acceleration boost factor becomes about 1.4 at accelerations lower than about 0.1 nanometer per second squared.

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