How to Disprove the NS-Capture Theory

It is generally understood, that a scientific theory is only meaningful if there is a way to disprove it. From a logical perspective this means that if some condition can be proven to be true, and that condition is in contradiction with the theory, then the theory must be false.In the case of the neutron star capture theory, the condition must exist that there are on the order of 5 trillion neutron stars in the Milky Way galaxy interspersed with all the other stars. That means that since there are 200 billion regular normal stars in the galaxy that there must be 25 neutron stars around for every regular star that is observed.

Since the Sun is a regular normal star, there must be approximately 25 neutron stars within about 4 light years of the Sun, the closest probably being within 1 light year.

If this assertion can be proven to be false, then the NS-Capture theory is false. i.e. the presence of these neutron stars is a “necessary” condition that must be satisfied in order for the NS-Capture theory to be true.

Currently there are no known neutron stars (zero) within at least 100 light years of the Sun.

However, neutron stars are not that easy to see. They do not emit any light, and the only way that they can be “seen” is if they are interacting with some other entity in space, and that this interaction produces electro-magnetic radiation that we can see.

My expectation is that we actually currently do see nearby neutron stars, however, current theories believe that what we see is something else.

A couple of candidates that might be local neutron stars are active galactic nucleii (AGNs) and some forms of quasars. Currently these are believed to be far away galaxies, but if it can be shown that any of them are actually nearby, then we would be well on the way to proving the NS-Capture theory is true.

Another way that could prove or possibly disprove the NS-Capture theory is to use gravitational lensing (GL). GL is a well established method to observe a heavy dark object passing in front of a bright object such as a regular normal star. With 5 trillion neutron stars floating around, it should be relatively easy to observe GL events on a regular basis, as neutron stars pass in front of the normal stars in the sky all the time.

In a future post, we will look at GL evidence to see if there are any indications of an unusually large number of detected events.

Another consideration is that since we observe X-rays from well-known neutron stars, the dark stars should be emitting x-rays when they encounter any kind of interstellar gas. Such a phenomenon would probably look like a uniform background of discrete x-ray sources that might not easily be resolved as discrete, but could be with improved instruments.

Currently, it is believed that the observed discrete x-ray background can be explained by a uniform extra-galactic population of AGNs. This obviously raises the question: what is an AGN?