The Pioneer Anomaly or Do We Really Understand the Physics Within the Solar System? Claus L¨ammerzahl Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) University Bremen thanks to J. Anderson, H. Dittus, E. Hackmann, V. Kagramanova, J. Kunz, T. Morley, O. Preuss, P. Richter, S. Solanki, S. Turyshev and the Pioneer Exploration Collaboration Utrecht, 26.5.2008 C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 1 / 123 Bremen campus Campus of University of Bremen C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 2 / 123 Bremen Drop Tower of ZARM Tower 146 m drop tube 110 m free fall time = 4.7 s deceleration 30 g ∼ C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 3 / 123 Bremen Drop Tower of ZARM C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 3 / 123 First BEC in microgravity / extended free fall C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 4 / 123 First BEC in microgravity / extended free fall BEC in free fall may become colder that today’s 500 fK (Ketterle) today’s free expansion / free fall time > 1 s aim 1 fK C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 4 / 123 First BEC in microgravity / extended free fall C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 4 / 123 Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 5 / 123 Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 5 / 123 Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 5 / 123 Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors 4 Attempts at explanation C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 5 / 123 Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors 4 Attempts at explanation 5 Cosmology and local physics Physics in the expanding universe Physics in the Schwarzschild–(anti-)de Sitter space–time Gravity on large scales MOND C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 5 / 123 Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors 4 Attempts at explanation 5 Cosmology and local physics Physics in the expanding universe Physics in the Schwarzschild–(anti-)de Sitter space–time Gravity on large scales MOND 6 Summary and outlook Summary Further studies A new Pioneer Exploration mission C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 5 / 123 The situation of standard physics Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors 4 Attempts at explanation 5 Cosmology and local physics Physics in the expanding universe Physics in the Schwarzschild–(anti-)de Sitter space–time Gravity on large scales MOND 6 Summary and outlook Summary Further studies A new Pioneer Exploration mission C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 6 / 123 The situation of standard physics The status Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors 4 Attempts at explanation 5 Cosmology and local physics Physics in the expanding universe Physics in the Schwarzschild–(anti-)de Sitter space–time Gravity on large scales MOND 6 Summary and outlook Summary Further studies A new Pioneer Exploration mission C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 7 / 123 The situation of standard physics The status The present situation All predictions of General Relativity are experimentally well tested and confirmed Foundations The Einstein Equivalence Principle Universality of Free Fall Universality of Gravitational Redshift Local Lorentz Invariance C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 8 / 123 The situation of standard physics The status The present situation All predictions of General Relativity are experimentally well tested and confirmed Foundations The Einstein Equivalence Principle Universality of Free Fall Universality of Gravitational Redshift Local Lorentz Invariance ⇓ Implication Gravity is a metrical theory C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 8 / 123 The situation of standard physics The status The present situation All predictions of General Relativity are experimentally well tested and confirmed Foundations Predictions for metrical theories The Einstein Equivalence Solar system effects Principle Perihelion shift Universality of Free Fall Gravitational redshift Deflection of light Universality of Gravitational Gravitational time delay Redshift Lense–Thirring effect Local Lorentz Invariance Schiff effect Strong gravitational fields ⇓ Binary systems Implication Black holes Gravity is a metrical theory ⇒ Gravitational waves C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 8 / 123 The situation of standard physics The status The present situation All predictions of General Relativity are experimentally well tested and confirmed Foundations Predictions for metrical theories The Einstein Equivalence Solar system effects Principle Perihelion shift Universality of Free Fall Gravitational redshift Deflection of light Universality of Gravitational Gravitational time delay Redshift Lense–Thirring effect Local Lorentz Invariance Schiff effect Strong gravitational fields ⇓ Binary systems Implication Black holes Gravity is a metrical theory ⇒ Gravitational waves ⇓ General Relativity C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 8 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? Outline 1 The situation of standard physics The status Problems? 2 Anomalies related to the Solar system Ranging and tracking The anomalies 3 The Pioneer anomaly The mission Modeling and errors 4 Attempts at explanation 5 Cosmology and local physics Physics in the expanding universe Physics in the Schwarzschild–(anti-)de Sitter space–time Gravity on large scales MOND 6 Summary and outlook Summary Further studies A new Pioneer Exploration mission C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 9 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? But: Dark clouds over General Relativity? Unexplained observations C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 10 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? But: Dark clouds over General Relativity? Unexplained observations Dark Matter (Zwicky 1933) Needed to describe galactic rotation curves, lensing, structure formation C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 10 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? But: Dark clouds over General Relativity? Unexplained observations Dark Matter (Zwicky 1933) Needed to describe galactic rotation curves, lensing, structure formation Dark Energy (Turner 1999) Needed to describe the accelerated expansion of our universe C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 10 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? But: Dark clouds over General Relativity? Unexplained observations Dark Matter (Zwicky 1933) Needed to describe galactic rotation curves, lensing, structure formation Dark Energy (Turner 1999) Needed to describe the accelerated expansion of our universe Pioneer Anomaly (Anderson et al, PRL 1998, PRD 2002) Non–Newtonian acceleration of Pioneer spacecraft toward the Sun C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 10 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? But: Dark clouds over General Relativity? Unexplained observations Dark Matter (Zwicky 1933) Needed to describe galactic rotation curves, lensing, structure formation Dark Energy (Turner 1999) Needed to describe the accelerated expansion of our universe Pioneer Anomaly (Anderson et al, PRL 1998, PRD 2002) Non–Newtonian acceleration of Pioneer spacecraft toward the Sun Flyby anomaly (ESA and NASA communications) Satellite velocities are too large by a few mm/s after flybys C. L¨ammerzahl (ZARM, Bremen) The Pioneer Anomaly Utrecht 26.5.2008 10 / 123 The situation of standard physics Problems? But: Dark clouds over General Relativity? Unexplained observations Dark Matter (Zwicky 1933) Needed to describe galactic rotation curves, lensing, structure formation Dark Energy (Turner 1999) Needed to describe the accelerated expansion of our universe Pioneer Anomaly (Anderson et al, PRL 1998, PRD 2002) Non–Newtonian acceleration of Pioneer spacecraft toward the Sun Flyby anomaly (ESA and NASA communications) Satellite velocities are too large by a few mm/s after flybys Increase of Astronomical Unit (Krasinski & Brumberg 2005, Pitjeva in Standish 2005) Distance Earth–Sun increases by 10