Abstract
Abstract Planet Nine was proposed as an explanation for the clustering of orbits for some trans-Neptunian objects. Recently, the use of a subrelativistic spacecraft was proposed to indirectly probe Planet Nine's gravitational influence. Here we study the effects of the drag and electromagnetic forces exerted on a subrelativistic spacecraft by the interstellar medium (ISM) and compare these forces with the gravitational force induced by Planet Nine. We find that the resulting noise due to density and magnetic fluctuations would dominate over Planet Nine's gravitational signal at subrelativistic speeds, v ≳ 0.001 c. We then identify the parameter space required to overcome the drag and magnetic noise from the ISM turbulence and enable the detection of Planet Nine's gravity. Finally, we discuss practical strategies to mitigate the effect of the drag and electromagnetic forces.
Highlights
The clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) suggests the existence of an unseen planet of mass M ∼ 5 − 10M⊕, so-called Planet 9, at a distance of ∼ 400 − 800 AU from the Sun (Batygin et al 2019)
We study the effects of the drag and electromagnetic forces exerted on a sub-relativistic spacecraft by the interstellar medium (ISM) and compare these forces with the gravitational force induced by Planet 9
We find that the resulting noise due to density and magnetic fluctuations would dominate over Planet 9’s gravitational signal at sub-relativistic speeds, v 0.001 c
Summary
The clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) suggests the existence of an unseen planet of mass M ∼ 5 − 10M⊕, so-called Planet 9, at a distance of ∼ 400 − 800 AU from the Sun (Batygin et al 2019). Keeping a high-precision clock on board a lightweight relativistic spacecraft represents a technical challenge for this proposal To overcome this challenge, Lawrence & Rogoszinski (2020) considered the transverse effect of gravity and derived the angular deflection of the spacecraft’s trajectory to be ∼ 10−9 rad. They argued that an angular deflection of this magnitude can be measured with an Earth-based or a near-Earth-based telescope and suggested that their method is better than attempting to measure the time delay because the transverse effect is permanent, whereas the time delay is only detectable when the spacecraft passes close to Planet 9 Both Witten (2020) and Lawrence & Rogoszinski (2020) assumed that the spacecraft is moving on a geodesic trajectory from Earth shaped only by gravity, and did not consider the effects of drag or electromagnetic forces from the interaction of the spacecraft with the interstellar medium (ISM).
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