Can conventional forces really explain the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10/11 ?

TL;DR

This paper improves the analysis of the Pioneer 10/11 anomalous acceleration by linking radio beam reaction forces to spin-rate changes, suggesting the anomaly may have a conventional explanation rather than being artificial.

Contribution

It provides an improved rotational Doppler shift analysis and establishes a relation between radio beam reaction force and spin-rate change, offering a conventional explanation for the Pioneer anomaly.

Findings

Good agreement between computations and observational data

Radio beam reaction force correlates with spin-rate change

Anomaly may not be artificial, consistent with conventional physics

Abstract

A conventional explanation of the correlation between the Pioneer 10/11 anomalous acceleration and spin-rate change is given. First, the rotational Doppler shift analysis is improved. Finally, a relation between the radio beam reaction force and the spin-rate change is established. Computations are found in good agreement with observational data. The relevance of our result to the main Pioneer 10/11 anomalous acceleration is emphasized. Our analysis leads us to conclude that the latter may not be merely artificial.