In 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returned dust and rock samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. While this sample provides important information about the universe, the data the mission collects may also provide opportunities to explore new areas of physics.
Potential fifth force of the universe
A research team led by Yu-Dai Tsai, an astrophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), used Bennu tracking data to investigate the potential existence of the fifth fundamental force in the universe.
“Interpreting the data we see by tracking Bennu could expand our understanding of the theoretical foundations of the universe and potentially renew our Standard Model understanding of physics, gravity and dark matter,” Tsai said. “The orbits of objects often contain anomalies that can be useful in discovering new physics.”
Tracking near-Earth asteroids like Bennu
Near-Earth asteroids such as Bennu are closely monitored, given the potential consequences for planetary preservation. The team used ground-based monitoring data collected before and during the OSIRIS-REx mission to investigate extensions of the Standard Model of Physics that now explain three of the four known fundamental forces of the universe.
Since Bennu’s discovery in 1999, optical and radar astrometric data have helped determine its orbit. The OSIRIS-REx mission added X-band radiometric and optical navigation tracking data.
“The tight constraints we obtained could easily translate into some of the tightest constraints on Yukawa-type fifth powers,” said Sunny Vanozzi, an associate professor at the University of Trento and one of the study’s authors. “These results highlight the potential of asteroid tracking as a valuable tool in the search for ultralight bosons, dark matter, and several well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model.”
Possibility of a fifth fundamental force
The orbit of a celestial body such as an asteroid is formed under the influence of gravity and other forces. Understanding these trajectories can reveal mysteries, especially when anomalies appear. For example, historically the existence of Neptune was inferred from irregularities in the orbit of Uranus before direct observation of Neptune.
By analyzing Bennu’s orbit and developing corresponding models, the team placed constraints on the possibility of a fifth fundamental force and the role of a potential intermediate particle, such as an ultralight boson, in this force. A fifth force intermediary particle can change the orbit of an asteroid like Bennu, so analyzing this tracking data is important for physics research.
Dark matter and dark energy
A new particle such as the ultralight boson could extend the Standard Model to include dark matter and dark energy, which are strongly suggested by cosmological and astrophysical observations but have not yet been integrated into the current theoretical framework. Although dark matter is believed to make up about 85% of all matter in the universe, scientists still lack a concrete understanding of the particles and forces that make it up.
Asteroid tracking and the physics of the fifth force
Tsai and his team first explored the idea of using asteroid tracking to study the physics of the fifth force in a paper published in 2023. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. After working on Bennu, they plan to continue their research with the asteroid Apophis, which will fly within 20,000 miles of Earth in 2029.
NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft is expected to approach Apophis and kick up some dust during this flyby. Observing how Earth’s gravity affects Apophis as it passes will provide more data to help investigate evidence of the physics of the fifth force.
Investigating fundamental questions in physics
Looking forward, the research team is also exploring the use of space-based quantum technologies and special space missions to increase the accuracy of tracking or directly searching for dark matter. These innovations could significantly improve the accuracy of measurements and further support efforts to investigate subtle gravitational effects that could reveal the existence of new particles or forces.
Such advances could pave the way for future breakthroughs as scientists continue to investigate the fundamental forces that govern the universe.
This research is a significant step forward in using asteroid tracking data to investigate fundamental questions in physics and provides a new method for probing the universe’s hidden forces and particles. The study was published in the journal Nature Communication Physics.
Source: Port Altele
