PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Newly discovered 3-star system to challenge Einstein's theory of General Relativity

2014-01-07
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Ingrid Stairs
stairs@astro.ubc.ca
University of British Columbia
Newly discovered 3-star system to challenge Einstein's theory of General Relativity A newly discovered system of two white dwarf stars and a superdense pulsar--all packed within a space smaller than the Earth's orbit around the sun -- is enabling astronomers to probe a range of cosmic mysteries, including the very nature of gravity itself.

The international team, which includes UBC astronomer Ingrid Stairs, reports their findings in the journal Nature on January 5.

Originally uncovered by an American graduate student using the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope, the pulsar – 4,200 light-years from Earth, spinning nearly 366 times per second – was found to be in close orbit with a white dwarf star and the pair is in orbit with another, more distant white dwarf.

The three-body system is scientists' best opportunity yet to discover a violation of a key concept in Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity: the strong equivalence principle, which states that the effect of gravity on a body does not depend on the nature or internal structure of that body.

"By doing very high-precision timing of the pulses coming from the pulsar, we can test for such a deviation from the strong equivalence principle at a sensitivity several orders of magnitude greater than ever before available," says Stairs, with UBC's Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Finding a deviation from the strong equivalence principle would indicate a breakdown of General Relativity and would point us toward a new, revised theory of gravity."

"This is the first millisecond pulsar found in such a system, and we immediately recognized that it provides us a tremendous opportunity to study the effects and nature of gravity," says Scott Ransom of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), who led the study. "This triple system gives us a natural cosmic laboratory far better than anything found before for learning exactly how such three-body systems work and potentially for detecting problems with General Relativity that physicists expect to see under extreme conditions."

Background

When a massive star explodes as a supernova and its remains collapse into a superdense neutron star, some of its mass is converted into gravitational binding energy that holds the dense star together. The strong equivalence principle says that this binding energy will still react gravitationally as if it were mass. Virtually all alternatives to General Relativity hold that it will not.

Under the strong equivalence principle, the gravitational effect of the outer white dwarf would be identical for both the inner white dwarf and the neutron star. If the strong equivalence principle is invalid under the conditions in this system, the outer star's gravitational effect on the inner white dwarf and the neutron star would be slightly different and the high-precision pulsar timing observations could easily show that.

"We have made some of the most accurate measurements of masses in astrophysics," says Anne Archibald of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and one of the authors of the study. "Some of our measurements of the relative positions of the stars in the system are accurate to hundreds of meters." Archibald led the effort to use the measurements to build a computer simulation of the system that can predict its motions.

The NRAO's Scott Ransom adds: "This is a fascinating system in many ways, including what must have been a completely crazy formation history, and we have much work to do to fully understand it."

### The scientists' observational program used the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope, the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands. They also studied the system using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the GALEX satellite, the WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Embargoed news from Jan. 6, 2014 Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet

2014-01-07
Embargoed news from Jan. 6, 2014 Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet Mediterranean diet without weight loss helps prevent diabetes 1. Mediterranean diet reduces diabetes incidence without calorie restriction, exercise, or weight loss Older patients at ...

New fossils shed light on the origins of lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!)

2014-01-07
New fossils shed light on the origins of lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!) New fossils from Belgium have shed light on the origin of some of the most well-known, and well-loved, modern mammals. Cats and dogs, as well as other carnivorous mammals ...

People lacking insurance not likely to migrate to obtain Medicaid coverage

2014-01-07
People lacking insurance not likely to migrate to obtain Medicaid coverage States choosing Medicaid expansion shouldn't expect costly influx of individuals from states not expanding coverage; other studies examine accountable care organizations and communication-and-resolution ...

1 in, 1 out: Oxford study shows how people put a limit on their social networks

2014-01-07
1 in, 1 out: Oxford study shows how people put a limit on their social networks A new study shows that people put most effort into communicating with small numbers of close friends or family, operating unconscious 1-in, 1-out policies so that communication patterns ...

Workplace wellness programs can cut chronic illness costs

2014-01-07
Workplace wellness programs can cut chronic illness costs But savings for lifestyle changes are smaller Workplace wellness programs can lower health care costs in workers with chronic diseases, but components of the programs that encourage workers to adopt healthier lifestyles ...

Biomaterials get stem cells to commit to a bony future

2014-01-07
Biomaterials get stem cells to commit to a bony future Researchers discover exactly how calcium phosphate can coax stem cells to become bone-building cells With the help of biomimetic matrices, a research team led by bioengineers at the University of California, ...

Green spaces deliver lasting mental health benefits

2014-01-07
Green spaces deliver lasting mental health benefits Green space in towns and cities could lead to significant and sustained improvements in mental health, finds a new study published in the journal of Environmental Science & Technology ...

Nomogram to determine individualized estimates of screen-detected prostate cancer overdiagnosis

2014-01-07
Nomogram to determine individualized estimates of screen-detected prostate cancer overdiagnosis Using a nomogram that incorporates age, Gleason score, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level at diagnosis, individual risks that a screen-detected ...

Study examines meditation programs of psychological well-being

2014-01-07
Study examines meditation programs of psychological well-being Mindfulness meditation programs may help reduce anxiety, depression and pain in some individuals, according to a review of medical literature by Madhav Goyal, M.D., M.P.H., of The Johns Hopkins University, ...

Inverse association between alcohol consumption, multiple sclerosis

2014-01-07
Inverse association between alcohol consumption, multiple sclerosis Drinking alcohol appears to have a dose-dependent inverse (opposite) association with the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) and researchers suggest their findings give no support to advising ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

[Press-News.org] Newly discovered 3-star system to challenge Einstein's theory of General Relativity