Reinterpreting the Pioneer anomaly and its annual residual

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel hypothesis involving lunar-sourced gravitational field undulations to explain the Pioneer anomaly and other solar system anomalies, suggesting a violation of the Weak Principle of Equivalence.

Contribution

It introduces a new model with wave-like gravitational field undulations to account for the anomaly, addressing wave dissipation and generation concerns, and links it to multiple solar system phenomena.

Findings

The model explains the Pioneer anomaly as a result of field undulations.

It accounts for the anomaly's apparent constancy and body-mass dependence.

It suggests a 356-day wave resonance explains the annual residual.

Abstract

In addition to its long-term constancy, the Pioneer (spacecraft) anomaly appears to only exist for bodies whose mass is less than that of: planets, moons, comets, and heavy asteroids of known mass. Assuming the observational evidence is reliable, and not the result of an unknown systematic effect, a violation of the Weak Principle of Equivalence is implied. To propose an additional force fails to satisfy this constraint. This paper presents a new hypothesis involving additional field energy in the form of: a finite number of lunar sourced constant amplitude (Lorentz invariant) wave-like undulations upon the gravitational field. Although apparently a futile suggestion, the author's model overcomes concerns regarding wave dissipation, wave generation, and the apparent constancy of the anomaly. A shortfall in motion arises because a tiny proportion of spacecraft kinetic energy is directed into a superposition of non-translational longitudinal oscillatory components. The restriction of this effect to low mass bodies is also addressed. Additionally, the annual residual of the Pioneer anomaly may be attributed to a real 356 day Callisto-Titan wave resonance. This hypothesis may also be readily applied to other solar system anomalies including: the Earth flyby anomaly, an apparent absence of small comets, an apparent paucity of smaller bodies in the Main Belt of asteroids, and residual doubts concerning the migrating planets hypothesis that addresses the too rapid formation of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.