Physical vacuum as a dilatant fluid yields exact solutions to Pioneer anomaly and Mercury’s perihelion precession

Marco Fedi

doi:10.1139/cjp-2018-0744

Abstract

By using the Lorentz factor as a viscosity term in Stokes’ law for objects traveling in a vacuum, Mercury’s perihelion precession and the Pioneer anomaly are directly and exactly solved, demonstrating that physical vacuum is a shear-thickening (dilatant) fluid. The modified Stokes’ equation also correctly indicates that planetary orbits are stable (over trillions of years). This unexpected feature of physical vacuum may help in achieving quantum relativity and implies interesting consequences for various fields of modern physics.

Highlights

Some authors considered the possibility that the physical vacuum may be a superfluid, a special Bose-Einstein condensate [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
The formula is written Fvac = −6πrDκ. If we use this formula for bodies traveling in a vacuum, such as probes or planets, the viscous force it refers to is that of the physical vacuum, so Eq (2) is the formula for the viscous force exerted by a dilatant vacuum: and its applications and validity are presented by precisely solving – as announced – two known anomalies and by obtaining other correct results, such as the stability of planetary orbits
It is suggested that the long-awaited quantum foundations of general relativity are situated in a shear-thickening quantum vacuum

Summary

Introduction

Some authors considered the possibility that the physical vacuum may be a superfluid, a special Bose-Einstein condensate [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. By exactly solving two known anomalies, along with other correct results, it is demonstrated that the physical vacuum rather behaves as a dilatant fluid, as shear stress increases. 2 introduces a modified Stokes’s formula for motion in a shear-thickening vacuum. The modified Stokes’s formula, put into Newton’s second law of motion, says that due to the large masses of planets (unlike the case of the Pioneer probes), planetary orbits are stable over billions of years, averting what would be otherwise a major objection to the existence of a shear-thickening vacuum, i.e. its effect on orbital stability. 3.3 shows that vacuum’s apparent (shear-dependent) viscosity emerges as the real cause of the anomalous precession of perihelia, suggesting that the quantum foundations of relativity are based on a fluid, shear-thickening quantum vacuum. The conclusion suggests possible reasons for vacuum dilatancy, building a bridge to the dark sector and to the Higgs field, while further research in this direction is expected

Methods: modified Stokes’s law for a dilatant vacuum

Exact value for the Pioneer acceleration

Second test

Deriving Einstein’s formula for the precession of perihelia

Findings

Conclusion