Mini solar system could reveal hidden dimensions

[C1ay]

A tiny, artificial solar system could reveal hidden spatial dimensions and test alternative theories of gravity, a new study suggests. If the system's "planets" moved slightly differently than expected from standard gravity, it would signal the presence of new physical phenomena – which have proven very difficult to test.

 

...Sahni proposes an alternative way to measure gravity on small scales. He and colleague Yuri Shtanov at the Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics (BITP) in Kiev, Ukraine, say it could be done by sending a "solar system in a can" into space.

 

This artificial system would reside inside a spacecraft that would be sent to the L2 Lagrange point. That point lies about four times as far away from Earth as the Moon does.

 

Once at the Lagrange point, the artificial solar system would be set in motion inside the spacecraft. An 8-centimetre-wide sphere of tungsten would act as an artificial sun, while a smaller test sphere would be launched 10 cm away into an oval-shaped orbit. The miniscule planet would orbit its tungsten sun 3,000 times per year....

 

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[ronthepon]

I bet that will show results. This seems to be a new technique of doind the job of seeing things we just are'nt supposed to.

[CraigD]

I bet that will show results. This seems to be a new technique of doind the job of seeing things we just are'nt supposed to.

I don’t know how to bet on the results of this superb experiment. It’s a really straightforward experiment, which will go a very long way toward explaining the Pioneer anomaly.

 

A question, though: if there are more than 3 dimensions (or, more formally, if the area of the surface of a sphere is [math]a \times r^b[/math], where [math]b > 2[/math]), wouldn’t the force of gravity decrease more rapidly than [math]\frac{1}{r^2}[/math], not less, as MOND hypothesis? Or does this have something to do with the extra dimensions being compacted, or otherwise weird?