Posted on 06/10/2024 9:00:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
A recent study that presents new challenges to the existence of dark matter suggests gravity may be able to exist even in the absence of mass.
Although all life on Earth experiences its effects daily, gravity remains one of the great mysteries of modern physics. Now, a new study published by Dr. Richard Lieu with The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) proposes that the gravitational effects observed in galaxies and clusters may be the result of what he likens to topological defects in the universe, a theory that does not require the inclusion of dark matter to explain phenomena observed in our universe.
A hypothetical nonluminous material believed by many to account for as much as 85% of the mass in the known universe, dark matter was initially conceived to help account for gravitational effects that scientists presently cannot explain with Einstein’s theory of general relativity. First proposed in 1932 by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, astrophysicists have continued searching for evidence of this mysterious invisible material, which remains unconfirmed.
However, not everyone is convinced that dark matter offers the best solution to the questions astrophysicists have about the cosmos. In his recent study, Lieu suggests an entirely new approach that could fundamentally upend our current understanding of the universe’s mass and gravitational forces.
“My own inspiration came from my pursuit for another solution to the gravitational field equations of general relativity—the simplified version of which, applicable to the conditions of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, is known as the Poisson equation,” Lieu recently said of his unique approach.
A distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at UAH, Lieu says that his interpretation of the problem “gives a finite gravitation force in the absence of any detectable mass,” an approach that he says arose from his frustration with prevailing ideas about dark matter that still lack any direct evidence after more than a century since the idea was initially proposed.
According to Lieu, concentric structures comprised of shell-like topological defects could account for the excess gravity current models require to bind galaxies or clusters. These structures likely have their genesis in a cosmological phase transition—an event where the state of matter changes across the entire universe—which occurred very early in the universe.
Lieu says such a phase transition could potentially generate gravitational effects without mass.
“Topological defects are compact regions of space with a very high density of matter, usually in the form of cosmic strings or spherical shells,” Lieu said in a statement. These spherical shells would likely consist of an inner layer of positive mass surrounded by an exterior layer composed of negative mass. The result would be a structure possessing a net mass of zero. Despite having essentially no mass, objects near these shells would nonetheless experience significant gravitational forces attracting them toward their center.
According to Einstein’s theories, gravity warps space-time, causing interactions between objects regardless of their mass. Even massless photons are influenced by gravity, for example, when light is warped as it passes near extremely dense celestial objects.
For Lieu, observations of the deflection of light and the velocities of stellar orbits in galaxies may be the result of these hypothetical massless shells, which he believes could offer a better explanation than the theoretical existence of dark matter in these regions.
Although Lieu does not currently offer an explanation for how these massless shells could be formed, he does say that his alternative theory could lead to new discoveries that could resolve such longstanding questions or may even help us confirm the existence of dark matter.
“The availability of a second solution, even if highly suggestive, is not sufficient to discredit the dark matter hypothesis,” Lieu says, adding that his study may only be “an interesting mathematical exercise at best.”
If proven through additional research, however, Lieu’s theory could indeed offer proof that gravity can exist without a need for mass. This discovery could potentially represent a significant advancement in our understanding of the universe and one of its most enduring mysteries.
Lieu’s recent study, “The binding of cosmological structures by massless topological defects,” appeared in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.
Photons are tiny bits of energy that when they encounter a mass they transfer some of that energy to the mass, and some bounces off...............
So we have a theory to refute an earlier theory for which there is no evidence. Modern Astrophysics
“Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world”
Before Einstein had discovered the photo-electric effect, scientists had come up with a formula to approximate what they actually saw with regard to black body radiation. This formula anticipated the effects of light being quantized, but again, was not attached to any specific mechanism so was viewed as a half-measure with regard to addressing the ultraviolet catastrophe.
Thanks Red Badger. Time to break out my "Black Matter Lives" t-shirt. /rimshot
In their never ending attempt to explain away GOD as the Creator and Master of the universe, secular scientists come up with all kinds of explanations to convince young and old brains full of mush that we, and the universe, came into being by pure chance. One of those yet to be proven theories is the presence of Dark Matter. However, many decades and billions of tax dollars later, astrophysicists still have yet to prove Dark Matter even exists.
I first read about the search to prove Dark Matter exists when I read an article back in 2006 on space.com. I was shocked when I read the article that a scientist actually said you need to believe it exists. I thought, "Wait a minute, did I just read a scientist use the phrase, "you must believe that something that has not yet been detected exists?" to explain the existence of something? Sounds a lot like religion doesn't it? The article was posted in space.com way back in September 2007.
Read this FreeRepublic post I originally posted in 2009. It is a FreeRepublic thread so no need to leave FR.
Christ Is The Dark Matter Scientists Are Looking For
Any object with negative mass should produce some very interesting, and predictable, effects. My alternate theory is that someone out there is slowing neutrinos down. Neutrinos have very little mass, but not zero. The Universe produces them in abundance but there is not much out there to change them once made. This missing mass are simply neutrinos in orbit with everything else.
Or something like that.
I’m no physicist, but what about matter/anti-matter?
Little Neutrino
Klaatu
Across your open mind
I trace erratic lines
In motion and in time
I fought a battle won
To the surface of the sun
Through fires on and on
It’s only you
It can’t be me
For I myself refuse to be
I am someone you’ll never know
I am the little neutrino
Solus is not far away
It’s face is brighter than a day
So don’t turn me away
It’s only you
It can’t be me
For I myself refuse to be
I am someone you’ll never know
I am the little neutrino
And now I’m passing through
The one who’s known as you
And yet you’ll never know I do
Goodnight
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Dee Long
Little Neutrino lyrics © Magentalane Music Limited
Quoth the Poe-man, “Forevermore.”
Poe was an amateur astronomer, and his insight into that particular problem was astonishing, given the times he lived in...............It must have been revealed....
And this was decades before Einstein’s theory of relativity...........
Clearly, Poe valued exercising his noodle on more than his wondrous fiction and poetry.
Thanks, Mike, for this very interesting excursion.................
This observed effect is a result of the well known theory, “The Perversity of Inanimate Objects.”
The use of the elastics used to secure ponytails, to make pairs of socks mechanically fastened together prior to washing, collapses the phase diagram of the PIO state and thus overcomes the phenomenon.
Sort of like opening the box turns Schrodinger’s cat into either a live cat or a dead cat, upon observation.
By the way, only ponytail elastics work. Rubber bands do not work. This is, in itself, yet another mystery...
I believe anti-matter has been shown experimentally to have positive mass.
And a pure vacuum is not “mass-free” due to zero-point energy. “Virtual” matter / antimatter pairs are continually springing into existence spontaneously and then self-annihilating in a seething background that is proven as well. Note the Casimir effect for example.
https://physicsworld.com/a/the-casimir-effect-a-force-from-nothing/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-casimir-effec/
Unfortunately he died at age 40 under mysterious(?) circumstances. Then one of his literary rivals attempted, unsuccessfully, to ruin his reputation by writing a fake obituary under an assumed name and then a biography full of outright lies about the man.
Some people thing Poe was poisoned because his Death certificate disappeared and all records of his autopsy.
We will find out One Day................
I don’t believe in anti-gravity.
BUT just as there can be jury nullification when a jury thinks someone is guilt of breaking the law but decides the law is unjust and thus finds the defendant not-guilty.
I propose the theory of gravity-nullification.
The old saying “Gravity. It’s not just a good idea - it’s the law!”
Gravity nullification fixes that problem for all time.
Now, lets not even START talking about time... despite the other saying, “There’s no time like the present.”
;^D
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