Plasma / Anode Tufting on "R Doradus"?

 

Comparison of observed anode tufting in the SAFIRE Project test chamber
to a recent observation of "R Doradus" by ALMA.

 

This will be a bit of an off-the-cuff "looks like" comparison, but one I think bears further scrutiny, as it may well be a second piece of direct observational evidence for the Electric Star / Sun model, forwarded and further expounded by Donald Scott (and based on prior work by the likes of Kristian Birkeland, Charles Bruce, Hannes Alfvén, Ralph Juergens), and tested in the plasma physics lab by The SAFIRE Project (see: YouTube Playlist).

In a previous blog entry, a possible connection was previously made between the "Bizarre Rings" [really concentric shells] of WR 140 (Wolf-Rayet 140) and novel results from the SAFIRE Project test chamber (concentric nested plasma "double-layer" shells).

Once again, it seems that newer, higher resolution images of stars out in the cosmos are aligning with images previously recorded in the SAFIRE Project test chamber.

The latest such star is "R Doradus," which was recently observed in unprecedented detail by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array [ALMA], not just once, but over a period of a month, gathering a number of sequential images of the "evolution" or "behavior" of its now better-resolved [in higher resolution/definition] stellar surface. In this video (and also referenced in this reaction/commentary video [which is what triggered this blog post]), ESO shows several sequential images showing how the visible appearance of the star appears to evolve and change over time.

 

GIF of "R Doradus" evolution from the ALMA site.

 

The "Standard Model" explanation of this observation is in terms of "gas models," "convective motion," and the typical theory of stellar nuclear fusion [creating internal "heat" and thereby driving "convective motion," etc.]. Basically, they've called this "bubbling convection," or some such. From an ALMA press release:

"For the first time, astronomers have captured images of a star other than the Sun in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface. The images of the star, R Doradus, were obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in July and August 2023. They show giant, hot bubbles of gas, 75 times the size of the Sun, appearing on the surface and sinking back into the star’s interior faster than expected."

"Stars produce energy in their cores through nuclear fusion. This energy can be carried out towards the star’s surface in huge, hot bubbles of gas, which then cool down and sink — like a lava lamp."

That is the "standard" theory.

But, there is another theory (quite non-mainstream, not widely talked about, and generally dismissed), which has been mentioned previously: The Electric Star / Sun hypothesis. Its take is radically different from the Standard Model's interpretation. 

In the Electric Star hypothesis, to radically oversimplify, the source of a star's radiant output is *not* nuclear fusion in its core, but an electrical process powered from the outside. 

This theory is based upon known properties and behaviors of plasma, such as glow and arc discharges, anode glow / anode tufting, and so on.

 

Images from the Plasma Universe page on electric glow discharges.

 

These are competing models for the interpretation of how stars operate, and likewise for how to interpret observations made of objects [stars, etc.] in space.

In a series of increasingly elaborate and specific experiments, The SAFIRE Project sought to *test* this novel hypothesis in the laboratory, and set about putting together a Design of Experiment, by which to investigate and test the model.

A number of presentations have been given at various points over the course of the SAFIRE Project and its several experimental phases. (See: YouTube Playlist.)

In particular, the 2015 presentation is of interest here, as it shows at various points some shots and videos of the SAFIRE test chamber in action. Of particular note here are the video and images of plasma tufting around the anode at the center of the chamber:

 

Video screenshot of plasma / anode tufting around the central anode.

 

Here we can see that the anode tufts are distributed somewhat irregularly around the anode, some large, some smaller, some brighter, some connected to one another, and with "dark space" in between. It is this particular discharge regime (plasma / anode tufting) that appears to be the most similar to the recent ALMA observation of "R Doradus" and its visible appearance:

Screenshot of a recent ESO video showing one of a series of
shots of the evolving appearance of "R Doradus."

 

Herein we can see an extremely similar apparent visual structure between the recent observation of "R Doradus" and and plasma / anode tufting seen in the SAFIRE Project's test chamber. In particular, the surface of "R Doradus" displays what look to be a number of individual extremely bright spots surrounded by dark spaces.

In the videos presented by The SAFIRE Project over the course of several years, one can also see that such plasma / anode tufts will be seen to move around the anode's spherical surface, shrink and grow, etc. Which it seems like one can just barely make out in the extant evolving images of "R Doradus," as the bright spots of so-called "bubbling convection" appear to move around, merge, etc., as well (in much the same manner as observed of anode tufting in the SAFIRE Project test chamber).

What the Standard Model calls "bubbling convection of hot gases" the Electric Star hypothesis would simply point to as a specific electrical discharge regime in plasma, over the surface of what is likely a compact object composed of heavy elements, and such. Hypothetically, of course.

Submitted on the obviously not-yet-sufficient basis of "looks like." 

However, we look forward to further refinement of the observational tools, higher-resolution and longer-duration observations, and perhaps an open-minded inquiry into an alternative hypothesis that may just unlock a better understanding of the universe, its structure, and function, from a plasma / electrical vantage point.

I'll let They Might Be Giants sing us out and give us small lesson on occasionally updating outdated theories & understandings with new information...

Whereas the sun may one have been viewed as a "ball of hot gas":

 

Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)

 

It's now known to be composed a bit more like a "ball of ionized plasma" (which behaves considerably differently from "gases," one might add):

Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)