Nonlinear electrodynamics and the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft anomaly

Abstract

The occurrence of the phenomenon known as photon acceleration is a natural prediction of nonlinear electrodynamics (NLED). This would appear as an anomalous frequency shift in any modeling of the electromagnetic field that only takes into account the classical Maxwell theory. Thus, it is tempting to address the unresolved anomalous, steady; but time-dependent, blueshift of the Pioneer 10/11 spacecrafts within the framework of NLED. Here we show that astrophysical data on the strength of the magnetic field in both the Galaxy and the local (super)cluster of galaxies support the view on the major Pioneer anomaly as a consequence of the phenomenon of photon acceleration. If confirmed, through further observations or lab experiments, the reality of this phenomenon should prompt to take it into account in any forthcoming research on both cosmological evolution and origin and dynamical effects of primordial magnetic fields, whose seeds are estimated to be very weak.

Final version accepted for publication in Europhysics Letters, uses EPL style, 7 pages

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• Primordial magnetic fields and gravitational baryogenesis in nonlinear electrodynamics
• Probing nonlinear electrodynamics in slowly rotating spacetimes through neutrino astrophysics
• How Well Do We Know the Orbits of the Outer Planets?
• Inflation Driven by Non-Linear Electrodynamics
• Wormhole solutions in the presence of nonlinear Maxwell field
• Nonlinear electrodynamics and CMB polarization
• Nonlinear electrodynamics and the variation of the fine structure constant
• Non-linear Electrodynamics in Blandford-Znajeck Energy Extraction
• Does the Neptunian system of satellites challenge a gravitational origin for the Pioneer anomaly?
• Pioneer 10 and 11 Spacecraft Anomalous Acceleration in the light of the Nonsymmetric Kaluza-Klein (Jordan-Thiry) Theory