The Pioneer maser signal anomaly: Possible confirmation of spontaneous photon blueshifting
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) X 10^-18 s^-1, or (1.1 +/- 0.6) X 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 round-trip 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) X 10^-18 s^-1 which lies within 2 sigma of the subquantum kinetics prediction and which 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 which is able to account for the luminosities of red dwarf and brown dwarf stars and planets, and their observed sharing of a common mass-luminosity relation.