Can observations inside the Solar System reveal the gravitational properties of the quantum vacuum?

TL;DR

This paper explores whether observations within the Solar System, especially of Eris and Dysnomia, can test the hypothesis that the quantum vacuum has gravitational dipoles, potentially revealing new physics.

Contribution

It proposes a novel method to test the gravitational properties of the quantum vacuum using orbital precession measurements of distant Solar System objects.

Findings

Quantum vacuum may induce detectable perihelion precession.

Eris-Dysnomia system is an ideal laboratory due to its distance.

Potential for Solar System observations to reveal quantum vacuum properties.

Abstract

The understanding of the gravitational properties of the quantum vacuum might be the next scientific revolution.It was recently proposed that the quantum vacuum contains the virtual gravitational dipoles; we argue that this hypothesis might be tested within the Solar System. The key point is that quantum vacuum ("enriched" with the gravitational dipoles) induces a retrograde precession of the perihelion. It is obvious that this phenomenon might eventually be revealed by more accurate studies of orbits of planets and orbits of the artificial Earth satellites. However, we suggest that potentialy the best "laboratory" for the study of the gravitational properties of the quantum vacuum is the Dwarf Planet Eris and its satellite Dysnomia; the distance of nearly 100AU makes it the unique system in which the precession of the perihelion of Dysnomia (around Eris) is strongly dominated by the quantum vacuum.