Asteroid Bennu and the Search for a Fifth Force: Implications for Dark Matter Theories
Asteroid Bennu and the Search for a Fifth Force: Implications for Dark Matter Theories
The quest to understand the universe’s fundamental forces and the enigmatic nature of dark matter continues. Recent findings from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, focusing on asteroid Bennu, have provided valuable insights, albeit negative, into one specific dark matter theory involving a hypothetical fifth force.
Published in Communications Physics on September 20, 2024, research led by Yu-Dai Tsai of Los Alamos National Laboratory analyzed Bennu’s meticulously tracked orbit. The high precision of the OSIRIS-REx data, which included a sample return to Earth in 2023, allowed scientists to search for subtle deviations that could indicate the influence of a fifth force. Such a force, if it exists, could potentially explain the presence of dark matter, a substance accounting for a significant portion of the universe’s mass but remaining undetected by conventional means.
The study’s findings revealed no evidence of orbital perturbations attributable to a fifth force within the sensitivity range of the measurements. This sets an upper limit on the strength of such a hypothetical force, particularly those interacting with ultralight particles – potentially a millionth of a trillionth of an electron volt. This negative result, however, is a valuable contribution to the scientific process, effectively narrowing the parameter space for future searches.
The researchers acknowledge that this research only explores a specific range of potential fifth force characteristics. Further investigations involving additional asteroids and broader observational techniques are necessary to expand the search across a wider spectrum of particle masses and force strengths. The precision orbital tracking of asteroids, therefore, emerges as a powerful tool in the ongoing exploration of dark matter and fundamental physics.
While the Bennu data did not reveal a fifth force, the study highlights the importance of using diverse approaches to tackle complex cosmological mysteries. The continued exploration of asteroid trajectories, combined with other experimental and theoretical investigations, remains crucial in our pursuit of a complete understanding of the universe’s composition and governing laws. The study is available at: doi: 10.1038/s42005-024-01779-3.
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