The missing law of gravitation: Keplers fourth law

A. I. Arbab

(a)

Department of Physics, College of Science, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6644, Buraidah
51452, KSA

PACS

Abstract A law relating planets primary parameters is derived. The law predicts the missing
parameters of exoplanets that are mostly synchronous with their parent stars. It complements the
three existing gravitation laws of Kepler and Newton. The law represents a statement of the spin
and angular momenta balance for a star-planet system.

Introduction.

From the orbital motion of the solar system, Kepler had derived his

three laws of gravitation. The first deals with the geometrical form of the orbit. The second
law deals with state of motion of the orbiting planet. It is an statement of conservation
of angular momentum of the orbiting planet. The third law is a quantitative law which
is extensively used to determine the planetary motion of planets about their parent stars.
These include the planets distance from its star, its orbital period about the star and the
mass of the star. These laws are obtained from the observations of the planets motion
about our Sun only. Newton generalized the third law to include all stars and not only our
Sun.
We employ in this work the analogy existing between electromagnetism and gravitation
[1]. We extend this analogy to include all phenomena occurring at atomic level, and assume
that they also occur at the gravitation level and are governed by analogous rules (equations).
The spin-orbit interaction that exists in hydrogen atom, due to the magnetic field created
by the nucleus motion and the electron spin, also exists at the gravitational level, if we
introduce the concept of gravitomagnetic field that is analogous to the ordinary magnetic
field. We have seen that the spin-orbit inetarction is attributed by Einstein to the curvature
of the space [2]. And since all planets do have spin, the spin-orbit interaction is intrinsically
(a) arbab.ibrahim@gmail.com

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A. I. Arbab1

prevailing in all star-planet systems. Bear in mind that some atoms can have zero total
spin angular momentum.
Equating the gravitational energy of the a star-planet system to the spin-orbit interaction
yields a formula that relates the primary star-planet system parameters to each other.
Moreover, we found that such a system exits only if the spin and orbital angular momenta
are proportional to the planet mass to the star mass ratio. This condition represents a
dynamical balance between the two angular momenta. We call the resulting equation the
Keplers fourth law which represents the missing equation to determined a star-planet
system completely.
Kepler third law.

The Keplers third law relating the orbital period (T ) of a planet

about the Sun, the semi-major axis (a) and the Suns mass (M ), is casted in the form
T2 =

4 2 3
a .
GM

(1)

However, the Newtons version of this law reads

T2 =

4 2
a3 ,
G(M + m)

(2)

where m os the mass of the orbiting planet. It the law which is now in use. The mass of star
can be obtained from stars luminosity when compared with the Sun. This is determined
using the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram. The period of motion can be determined from the
observation of the planet motion, and consequently the semi-major axis can be determined
using eq.(2). A parallax method can also be used to calculate the planet distance from its
parent star.
Extrasolar planetary (exoplanets) motion .

Astronomers have now spotted many new

planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. These new planets are called exoplanets. They
are generally very close to their parent stars, and therefore experience some tidal locking.
The first Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star was discovered by Didier Queloz
and Michel Mayor [3]. Planets had previously been discovered around pulsars [4]. Stars
are generally very far from our Earth. The nearest stars system to the Earth is the AlphaCentauri which is at a distance of 4.3 light years. Other stars lie at far distances that are
thousands of light years away from us. This poses a problem of observing planets belonging
to such stars. Moreover, our galaxy (the Milky Way) contains hundred billions of stars.
Furthermore, our next neighbour galaxy (the Andromeda) lies at a distance of 2.5 million
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The missing law of gravitation: Keplers fourth law

year and hence the planetary observations become more severe. In as much as planets
are extremely faint objects compared to their parent stars they appear to be extremely
faint, or even un seen. Therefore, direct observation of exoplanet is very dicult and some
instrumental method should be devised to make these observations tractable.
To determine the exoplanets characteristics, we need to know their temperature, mass
and radius and the prevailing atmosphere. Their atmosphere can be deduced from the
change in the optical properties of the light coming from the parent star to the Earth
traversing the planet atmosphere. The atmosphere of the exoplanet is related to its mass
and radius through the scape velocity of the gas residing in the exoplanet surface.
Dierent observational techniques are employed to precisely determine the exoplanet
radius. These include transiting of the exoplanet in front of its parent star, radial velocity
detection method. The radius of the exoplanet is determined by observing the drop in the
star brightness occurring when the planet intervenes the light coming to the Earth. This
brightness drop is directly related to the ratio of the planet radius to the radius of its parent
star. This can be expressed as
Rp2
F
= 2 ,
F
RS

(3)

where F is the star flux. From the star and planet momentum conservation, one can write
M vs = mvp .

(4)

The velocity of the star (vs ) can be obtained from the Doppler measurements of the star
radial velocity, and the planet velocity vp from the planet orbital period and the Keplers
third law. This can be expressed as
m=

M vs T
,
2 a

(5)

where T is determined by eq.(2).

The mass of the exoplanet can be obtained from the gravitation force measure by the
Doppler shift using the radial velocity method. When the mass and the radius are determined, the density of the planet material can be calculated. The material from which the
exoplanet is made can then be deduced.
Questions related to the possibility that a given exoplanet can harbour life can then be
addressed. This is usually linked to the Habitable Zone around which the exoplanet exists.
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A. I. Arbab2

Keplers fourth law.

In an attempt to generalize the Newtons law of gravitation to

look analogous to the Lorentz law of electromagnetism, we express it in the generalized

form [5]
g ,
FN = mg + mv B

(6)

g is called the gravitomagnetic force that is presumed to exit due to the motion of
where B
planets. As in hydrogen atom, which is analogous to the solar system, there is an interaction
between the internal magnetic field arising from the electron orbital and the spin angular
momentum. This is normally known as the spin-orbit interaction. The gravitomagnetic
field is analogous to the magnetic field arised from the motion of the electron around the
nucleus. This is determined by the Biot-Savart-law as

= v E ,
B
c2

= kQ r ,
E
r3

(7)

is analogous to g is the electric field provided by the nucleus, and

where Q is the nucleus, E
k is the Coulomb constant. Hence, in terms of the orbital angular momentum, eq.(7) reads
= kQ L
,
B
2mc2 r3

= r mv ,
L

(8)

when relativistic correction (Thomas factor) is taken into consideration [6, 7]. The gravitational analogue is given by [1]
g = GM L
.
B
mc2 r3

(9)

The spin-orbit interaction energy in the atomic case is given by [7]

U=

k Qe
LS,
2m2 c2 r3

,
U =
s B

(10)

while in gravitation it will read [1, 5]

Ug = gg

GM 2
LS,
2m2 c2 r3

L=

GM m2 a(1 e2 ) ,

g = gg

M
,
2m

(11)

where gg is gravitational gyromagnetic ratio and g is the gravitomagnetic moment due to

planet spin. This energy can be equated with the gravitational interaction energy that can
be expressed as [1, 5]
Ug =

GM L2
,
3mc2 r3

(12)

which Einstein attributed to curvature of space [2]. However, the Einstein term is UE =
GM L2
mc2 r 3

. The equality yields the following equation [8]

S=A

(m)
M

L,

A=

p-4

2
,
3gg cos

(13)

The missing law of gravitation: Keplers fourth law

where is the angle between L and S.

This is a balance (equilibrium) equation which states that the spin and orbital angular
momenta of a planet about its self and its parent star is distributed by their mass ratio.
Equation (13) is very interesting since it relates the spin of the planet to its orbital angular
momentum. This has not been found and scientists usually ask why do planets spin. The
answer is now provided! It is also worthy to mentioned that when the law in eq.(6) is applied
to the motion of stars in spiral galaxies it yields a flat rotation curve that is consistent with
observations, without the need for dark matter that is required by the ordinary Newtons
law [9].
Expressing L and S in terms of planet and star parameters, eq.(13) yields [8]
(

D
T

)
=

1
C2

Rp
a

)2

M
,
m

(14)

where D is the planet spin period (day), and C is some constant to be determined. Thus,
only star-planet system satisfying eq.(14) can exist as a stable system. This law provides
the missing data about any exoplanetary system. I call this law (formula) the Keplers
fourth law as it complements the three Kepler laws of gravitation.
For the Moon-Earth system we find C = 0.041 and for exoplanets it amounts to C = 0.707.
The Moon is in synchronous orbit around the Earth, and so do most of the exoplanets. In
this case the day and period are equal, and hence the exoplanet mass can be determined
from eq.(14) as
m=

1
C2

Rp
a

)2
M.

(15)

If we apply eq.(15) for the KELT-16b exoplanet discovered on August 2016, we will find its
mass to be 2.77 MJ while the absolute observational value is 2.75 MJ , where MJ is the mass
of Jupiter which is taken as a reference mass for exoplanets [10].
Concluding remarks.

A fourth Kepler law relating the primary parameter of exo-

planets to each other is derived. It is derived from the analogy existing between electromagnetism and gravitation. The spin and angular momenta of a star-planet system are
governed by their mass ratio. This represents a dynamical balance for the system to exist.
REFERENCES
[1] Arbab, A. I., The Generalized Newtons Law of Gravitation Versus the General Theory of Relativity, J. Mod. Phys. 3, 1231 (2012).
[2] Weinberg, S. Gravitation and cosmology, John Wiley & Sons, 1972.

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A. I. Arbab3

[3] Mayor, M. and Queloza, D., Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star, Nature 378, 355 (1995).
[4] Wolszczan, A. and Frail, D. A., A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257 +
12, Nature 355, 145 (1992).
[5] Arbab, A. I., Gravitomagnetism: a novel explanation of the precession of planets and binary
pulsars, Astrophys. Space Sci. 330, 61 (2010).
[6] Thomas, L. H., The Motion of the Spinning Electron, Nature 117, 514 (1926).
[7] Griths, D. J., Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Prentice Hall, (2004).
[8] Arbab, A. I., et al., The planetary spin and rotation period: a modern approach, Astrophys.
Space Sci. 348, 57 (2013).
[9] Arbab, A. I., Flat rotation curve without dark matter: the generalized Newtons law of gravitation,
Astrophys Space Sci. 355: 2152 (2015).
[10] Oberst, T. E., et al., KELT-16b: A highly irradiated, ultra-short period hot Jupiter nearing tidal
disruption, http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.00618v1

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