Premium
The Pioneer anomaly and new physics
Author(s) -
Eiermann K.E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.201111641
Subject(s) - blueshift , physics , anomaly (physics) , acceleration , doppler effect , hubble's law , astrophysics , cosmology , dark energy , astronomy , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics , optics , photoluminescence
The Pioneer anomaly is one of the most important problems in modern physics. The observed blueshift of the Doppler signals coming back from the space probes Pioneer 10 and 11 is interpreted as being due to an anomalous acceleration a p = (8.74 ± 1.33) × 10 –8 cm s –2 towards the Sun. In this paper the blueshift is explained by the frequency shifts of the receivers. These frequency shifts result from an increase in elementary particle masses in time, the rate of increase being tied up with the present‐day Hubble parameter H 0 . The result is that the seeming acceleration a p is the product of H 0 and the velocity of light. Taking new physics into consideration, this paper presents a new explanation of the Pioneer anomaly based on the assumption that the Universe is eternal and infinite without expansion or contraction (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)