THE SANNER MODEL - A null prediction for frame-dragging
The Sanner Model (TSM) postulates a purely radial, curl-free aether flow toward mass centers, and this paper shows that it necessarily predicts zero frame-dragging. The context is Gravity Probe B (GP-B), which measured a residual precession of gyroscopes in Earth orbit, with a component attributed to frame-dragging (the Lense-Thirring effect) at approximately 0.039 arcseconds per year. In TSM the aether velocity field is v = -sqrt(2GM/r) r-hat, which is irrotational: curl v = 0. It has no azimuthal component and no dependence on the rotation vector J of the central mass. Consequently, the spin evolution equation contains no term proportional to J, and the model predicts omega_frame-dragging = 0 exactly. The larger GP-B precession of 6.6 arcsec/yr is derived instead from the radial aether gradient combined with kinematic Thomas precession, giving omega = (3GM/2c^2R) Omega, which reproduces the measured value without curved spacetime. The reported 0.039 arcsec/yr residual is reinterpreted not as a physical dragging of space or aether, but as a systematic data-reduction artifact arising from the use of GR-based ephemerides and clock models that presuppose frame-dragging. A timing error of approximately 0.3 nanoseconds over the 1.5-year mission, corresponding to a fractional clock-rate error of about 6 x 10^-18, is sufficient to produce the entire observed signal. A detailed re-reduction protocol is proposed, using the Sanner clock equation gamma = 1/sqrt(1 - v_net^2/c^2), with v_net^2 = v_aether^2 + v_motion^2, and Newtonian orbital mechanics, so that no frame-dragging term is assumed in the ephemerides. The paper concludes with two falsifiable challenges: re-analyze the GP-B raw data without GR-based frame-dragging assumptions, and apply the same null-prediction logic to other frame-dragging tests such as LAGEOS and lunar laser ranging. If TSM is correct, the reported residual will vanish within error bars.
Authors
- Gunnar Sanner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8353-9873)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-09-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23069836
- Primary Topic
- Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Type
- preprint