Tezpur: A new study by researchers at Tezpur University has shed fresh light on how gravity behaves inside the Sun, opening promising avenues for testing alternative theories of gravity through solar observations. The research, conducted by the Department of Physics at Tezpur University (TU), has been accepted for publication in Physical Review E, a prestigious journal of the American Physical Society (APS), internationally recognised for its rigorous peer-review process. Titled “Stability and Wave Dynamics in Polytropic Eddington-inspired Born–Infeld (EiBI) Gravitating Solar Plasmas”, the study was carried out by Prof. Pralay Kumar Karmakar and Souvik Das, a Senior Research Fellow supported under the DST-INSPIRE programme. The work focuses on understanding how a modified theory of gravity—known as Eddington-inspired Born–Infeld (EiBI) gravity—affects wave behaviour deep within the Sun.
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The Sun’s interior is dominated by plasma waves that transport energy and play a crucial role in maintaining its structural stability. Traditionally, these waves have been studied using Newtonian gravity. However, the TU researchers explored how wave dynamics change when gravity is described within the EiBI framework, particularly under the Sun’s extreme temperatures and densities.
Using advanced mathematical modelling along with four years of helioseismic data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the team found that even slight departures from conventional gravity can lead to observable effects. Under EiBI gravity, wave speeds and energy transport inside the Sun were shown to increase by up to 55 per cent, resulting in more stable solar oscillations. The study also revealed that certain gravity-driven oscillation modes, previously thought to be insignificant, can carry substantial energy under modified gravity. Significantly, the theoretical predictions align closely with actual solar observations, making this the first observational test of EiBI gravity within a stellar interior. Researchers believe the findings could have far-reaching implications for understanding stellar interiors and extreme gravitational environments beyond the Sun.
