Tezpur University study reveals new insights into gravity inside Sun

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TEZPUR: A study from the Department of Physics at Tezpur University (TU) has marked a significant breakthrough in understanding how gravity operates inside the Sun. The research, titled ‘Stability and Wave Dynamics in Polytropic Eddington-inspired Born–Infeld (EiBI) Gravitating Solar Plasmas,’ has been accepted for publication in Physical Review E, which is published by the American Physical Society (APS), one of the world’s most prestigious scientific societies. The study has been carried out by Pralay Kumar Karmakar, Professor, Department of Physics, and Souvik Das, Senior Research Fellow (DST-INSPIRE), Tezpur University. It explores how a modified theory of gravity—known as Eddington-inspired Born–Infeld (EiBI) gravity—alters the behaviour of waves inside the Sun. The Sun’s interior is filled with plasma waves that transport energy and play a crucial role in maintaining solar stability. Traditionally, these waves have been studied using Newton’s theory of gravity. The present research investigates how the EiBI modified gravity framework changes wave dynamics under the Sun’s extreme internal temperature and density conditions. By combining advanced mathematical modelling with four years of helioseismic data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the researchers found that even small deviations from conventional gravity can have measurable effects. Under EiBI gravity, wave speeds and energy transport inside the Sun can increase by as much as 55 percent, resulting in more stable solar oscillations.

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