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Saturday, April 15, 2023 07:00 PM
The Fifth Force and the Mysteries of the Universe
According to a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Stellar Particle Physics, this new approach can reveal, through the movement of these asteroids, very subtle and subtle particles that may shed light and explain some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. Like what dark matter and dark energy are in the universe.
Scientists have long believed in the validity of a theory indicating the existence of the “fifth force” outside what is known as the familiar physical forces that explain the nature of the movement of astronomical bodies, which are well-established traditional forces that explain the movement of objects and the effect of their forces in the universe.
And the “fifth force” – if discovered – adds a new force to our reality, which is traditionally governed by four basic forces, namely:
Gravitational forces.
• Electromagnetic forces.
• Strong nuclear forces.
Weak nuclear forces.
The study team, headed by physicist Yu Dai Tsai, from the University of California, proposes a revolutionary way to search for a possible hidden fifth force in the universe by studying the movement of asteroids, which in turn can affect celestial bodies from very long distances.
Study Approach
Through the principle of “proof of concept”, Cai and colleagues define a new approach “to study the possibility of exploring the fifth force using astronomical asteroid motion data”, emphasizing the importance of observing the movement of asteroids and studying and analyzing the data.
“This fifth force is very interesting,” Tsai said. “There are several motives for searching for this force because it may be related to the explanation of many phenomena in fundamental physics.”
The idea of believing in the existence of a fifth power comes from the inability to explain the mysterious phenomena observed in the universe. For example, the existence of dark matter, or dark energy, that is responsible for the expansion of the universe, which scientists have not yet been able to determine. And the fifth force might help learn regarding the nature of dark energy and dark matter – assuming they can be detected. But it is possible, according to the hypothesis, that the accelerating expansion of the universe involves an undiscovered force, not just dark energy but the presence of the fifth force.
In a separate study published last year, Tsai proposed sending a space mission that might be able to detect very fine dark matter particles that may be associated with the solar star and thus identify through them the existence of this fifth force, which affects objects and their movement in our solar system.
It is noteworthy that several researches preceded this study in monitoring changes in the movement of planets, moons and celestial bodies in their orbits in the universe. But Tsai and his colleagues are the first to propose the idea of studying the movement of near-Earth asteroids to prove the existence of this fifth force.
This new approach was partly inspired by the huge amount of accurate data on the movement of asteroids in the solar system that were meant to protect Earth from their catastrophic impacts on the planet.
“We all know very well that these asteroids can be dangerous to us,” Tsai explained. “Some of those asteroids are close to Earth, which might threaten our planet and collide with it, so they are tracked very accurately.”
NASA and space maneuvers
Using optical and radar observations, scientists have been able to track the movements of thousands of asteroids with such a high degree of accuracy that their paths can now be predicted for the next 100 years, or more.
In addition, a number of space missions have been sent to visit asteroids and monitor them closely, such as NASA’s Lucy mission.
• NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is the latest spacecraft to collect samples from the surface of an asteroid, which it will deliver to Earth later this year
• NASA’s DART spacecraft collided with an asteroid in 2022, a maneuver that allegedly changed the orbit of the target space rock.
• All these efforts revolutionized the understanding of the properties and movements of asteroids, making it possible to explain the changes in their movement caused by various forces, such as the forces of solar radiation or the gravitational pull of each other’s bodies. By studying this high-resolution data, the mysterious forces acting on these asteroids can be isolated, including the fifth force – if it exists.
To this end, Tsai and his colleagues demonstrated that evidence of a fifth force might emerge from long-term observations of the asteroid’s motion. In particular, the team points to the so-called “precession” phenomenon of these bodies, which is a slight change in the axis of their rotation when these bodies are at their closest point in their orbit to the sun.
The researchers were able to study the movement data of nine asteroids close to Earth in order to search for signs of a fifth force, but they noted that future studies might better expand this research approach to include more than a million asteroids or space rocks.
