A team of physicists is analyzing the trajectory of the asteroid Bennu to identify deviations that current force models cannot explain. Bennu, a significant object for scientific research, was the target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, which successfully collected untainted material from its surface.
This asteroid is not only crucial for planetary defense strategies but is now also being used to investigate the existence of a potential fifth force of nature, a concept debated in theoretical physics for about 40 years.
Currently, the universe is understood to be governed by four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force. However, anomalies in the behavior of subatomic particles, such as muons, suggest that these forces may not fully account for all phenomena.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory team is utilizing precise data from the OSIRIS-REx mission to investigate any trajectory anomalies in Bennu since its discovery in 1999. The study aims to establish constraints on a possible fifth force and its associated mediating particle, which would manifest in the altered orbit of Bennu.
Each fundamental force has a corresponding mediating particle: photons for electromagnetism, gluons for the strong force, and W and Z bosons for the weak force. The hypothetical graviton would mediate gravity, but it remains undetected.