Exploring Asteroid Bennu: A Gateway to New Fundamental Physics

Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid first discovered in 1999, has emerged as an unlikely yet captivating instrument in the quest for something extraordinary — a fifth fundamental force of nature that possesses the potential to dramatically alter our understanding of the universe.

For decades, scientists have interpreted the cosmos using a framework built on four primary forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. However, the whispers of something deeper, a fifth force, waiting to be unearthed, have persisted over the years. Now, thanks to genetic input from Bennu, an international team of scientists feels they are edging closer to figuring out one of the most significant mysteries plaguing contemporary physics.

The Search for the Fifth Force

In the year 2023, on a bright and sunny morning in the Utah desert, a spacecraft returned to Earth following an epic journey that humankind had thought impossible — traversing a mind-boggling distance of more than two billion miles. Inside that spacecraft’s capsule lay a treasure from the cosmos: a carefully collected sample of rock and dust sourced from the ancient asteroid known as Bennu.

Bennu, which resembles a spinning top and measures a mere 500 meters in width, acts as a captivating time capsule. It encapsulates secrets about our solar system’s formation that date back over 4.5 billion years. This loosely piled, rubble-like asteroid is believed to harbor primordial compounds, including essential organic molecules instrumental to life’s emergence on Earth. When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully descended onto its surface in October 2020, it collected fragments that may offer critical insight into the fundamental building blocks of our planet.

The data gleaned from this mission has provided planetary scientists with a veritable treasure trove. Yet for physicists like Yu-Dai Tsai from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Bennu’s trajectory through space offers the tantalizing possibility to detect an invisible force influencing its movement.

“By interpreting the data gathered from tracking Bennu, we have the potential to enhance our understanding of the theoretical foundations of the universe,” states Tsai.

The research conducted by his team proposes that subtle deviations in Bennu’s orbit could hint at the existence of this elusive fifth force — a force that might unveil the mysteries of dark matter, the enigmatic substance that constitutes the majority of the universe yet remains unobserved directly.

Investigating Anomalies

This journey into the unknown functions in a specific way: as Bennu orbits the Sun, it experiences gravitational pulls, nudges from solar radiation, and other invisible forces influencing its path. Visualize it as a spirited game of billiards, where every ball moves with a subtle, unseen force. Over time, one may start to suspect that the pool table is ever so slightly tilted — a tilt that remains invisible but is nonetheless profoundly impactful. This ‘tilt’ is precisely what Tsai and his team strive to identify.

The researchers meticulously analyzed Bennu’s precise orbital data, amalgamating information from OSIRIS-REx with previous ground-based observations. They posed the crucial question: Are there any inconsistencies in Bennu’s trajectory indicating a presence of a small but significant force, potentially shifting the asteroid from its course?

“The trajectories of objects frequently exhibit anomalies that could be invaluable in uncovering new physics,” explains Tsai. This form of detective work has led to groundbreaking scientific achievements before. For instance, in the 1800s, astronomers utilized minor irregularities in Uranus’s orbit to predict Neptune’s existence—long before they had telescopes powerful enough to view it directly.

Yet, there exists a caveat. Much like the revelations brought forth by Neptune, the search for anomalies can often lead one down the path of misconceptions. A notable example is Vulcan, an imaginary planet that scientists once posited as a likely existence between Mercury and the Sun, originally suggested to account for anomalies in Mercury’s orbit. However, it ultimately turned out to be an abstract concept that contributed to science fiction narratives rather than a factual planet.

A Window Into Dark Matter?

While Bennu may not unravel all the mysteries, it is undeniably bestowing essential clues upon researchers. Tsai’s contingent has yet to discover concrete evidence for a fifth force; nonetheless, their findings deliver some of the most stringent constraints on how powerful or expansive such a force would need to be, should it indeed exist.

If a fifth force is out there, it is exceptionally well concealed. The team effectively ruled out certain theories concerning fifth forces linked with particles referred to as ultralight bosons, which some physicists speculate could unlock the enigma of dark matter.

Dark matter, the invisible substance believed to comprise approximately 85 percent of all matter in the universe, has consistently eluded definitive detection. We infer its existence based on the observation that galaxies rotate at speeds exceeding expectations based solely on visible matter — something is binding them together, but the identity of that “something” remains one of the most perplexing quandaries in science. Discovering a fifth force could yield critical breakthroughs in understanding this elusive phenomenon.

Eyes on Apophis: The Next Steps

Though Bennu has not provided all the answers, it marks merely the initial phase of this scientific endeavor. Tsai’s team intends to expand their efforts by focusing on Apophis—another nearby asteroid slated to make an exceptionally close approach in 2029, coming within just 20,000 miles of Earth. NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission will diligently observe Apophis during its rapid flyby, and the team anticipates that this will yield even better data to further explore the mysterious fifth force.

“The tightly defined constraints we’ve achieved translate to some of the most stringent limitations placed on Yukawa-type fifth forces,” commented Sunny Vagnozzi, a cosmologist at the University of Trento and a co-author of the study, referring to the theoretical framework used to describe these forces.

As the quest progresses, scientific exploration reveals that asteroids like Bennu are not just remnants of space debris. Instead, they may hold fundamental insights regarding forces that remain unseen but are pivotal in shaping the reality surrounding us. The intriguing findings of this research were published in the journal Communications Physics.

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