Someone on the Physics Stack Exchange usefully asked me about MiHsC and the bullet cluster, which seems to be a crucial observation that might help to decide between theories, so this is a reply for them.
I have thought about the bullet cluster before, but have been unable to get very far due to a lack of data as you'll see below. I emphasize that my thoughts on it are inconclusive so please take this as exploratory, but the application of MiHsC to the bullet cluster depends on the patterns of acceleration within them. To explain: the inertial mass of an object in MiHsC/QI depends on the mutual acceleration between it and nearby masses, so when an object passes over the spin axis of a larger body the mutual accelerations are lower, so the inertia of the smaller mass decreases by MiHsC. To conserve momentum it speeds up and bends in response to an external force more easily. I showed that this aspect of MiHsC predicts the latitude dependence of the Earth flyby anomalies quite well (see MNRAS-letters, 389(1),L57-60, free pdf available).
Light has inertial mass (it exerts radiation pressure) so it should be affected by MiHsC (but how this might fit with relativity I don't yet know). For the bullet cluster then, this means that light should bend more than expected, as if there is more matter pulling on it, in places outside the high-acceleration cluster interior and along any spin axes. Is there any coherent spin? The clusters seem rotationally symmetric around an axis along the bullet's trajectory, and looking at the famous blue-pink image, the extra apparent mass obtained from the lensing data looks to be near the 'poles' of this axis, as MiHsC might suggest if the clusters are spinning around this axis, even slightly. Are they? If someone has any data, please let me know.
Light has inertial mass (it exerts radiation pressure) so it should be affected by MiHsC (but how this might fit with relativity I don't yet know). For the bullet cluster then, this means that light should bend more than expected, as if there is more matter pulling on it, in places outside the high-acceleration cluster interior and along any spin axes. Is there any coherent spin? The clusters seem rotationally symmetric around an axis along the bullet's trajectory, and looking at the famous blue-pink image, the extra apparent mass obtained from the lensing data looks to be near the 'poles' of this axis, as MiHsC might suggest if the clusters are spinning around this axis, even slightly. Are they? If someone has any data, please let me know.
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