Volume 18: Pages 150-163, 2005
The Pioneer Maser Signal Anomaly: Possible Confirmation of Spontaneous Photon Blueshifting
P. A. LaViolette
The Starburst Foundation, 1176 Hedgewood Lane, Niskayuna, New York 12309 U.S.A.
The novel physics methodology of subquantum kinetics predicted in 1980 that photons should blueshift their frequency at a rate that varies directly with negative gravitational potential, the rate of blueshifting for photons traveling between Earth and Jupiter having been estimated to average approximately (1.3 ± 0.65) × 10−18 s−1, or (1.1 ± 0.6) × 10−18 s−1 for signals traveling a roundtrip distance of 65 AU through the outer solar system. A proposal was made in 1980 to test this blueshifting effect by transponding a maser signal over a 10 AU roundtrip distance between two spacecraft. This blueshift prediction has more recently been corroborated by observations of maser signals transponded to the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. These measurements indicate a frequency shifting of approximately (2.28 ± 0.4) × 10−18 s−1, which lies within 2σ of the subquantum kinetics prediction and cannot be accounted for in terms of known forces acting on the craft. This blueshifting phenomenon implies the existence of a new source of energy that is able to account for the luminosities of red dwarf stars, brown dwarf stars, and planets and their observed sharing of a common mass‐luminosity relation.
Keywords: time and frequency, planetary and deep space probes, gravitational wave detectors and experiments, energy conservation violations, subquantum kinetics, nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics, genic energy, frequency blueshifting, mass‐luminosity relation, planets and stars
Received: December 18, 2003; Published online: December 15, 2008
