REVIEW 3 major objections 6 minor 46 references
Constraining the Cosmological Constant from Stellar Orbits Around Sgr A* Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks
T0 review · 3 major / 6 minor · reviewed 2026-08-05 · deepseek-v4-flash
Pith's one-line read A physics-informed neural network trained on S2's astrometry infers the orbit's total precession, subtracts the Schwarzschild contribution, and attributes the residual to the cosmological constant, obtaining Λ ≤ 5.67 × 10^-40 m^-2.
desk verdict Likely a fit residual, not a Λ measurement—honest PINN work that needs a zero-Λ mock test before the bound can be taken seriously. read the letter →
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
The reading
What carries the argument
Key machinery is the inverse physics-informed neural network (iPINN). A fully connected network maps the orbital phase angle φ to the inverse radius u = 1/r, trained by minimizing a weighted sum of a regression loss against astrometric data and a physics loss enforcing the Schwarzschild-metric equations in Darwin variables (eqs. 5–7). The physical model's unknown parameters e and p are optimized along with the network weights, acting as an inverse solver. The trained network is then evaluated over two full orbital periods, the two minima of u(φ) locate successive periapsis passages, and their angular separation defines the total precession δφ_Reg. Subtracting the analytic Schwarzschild prece
What would settle it
Fit the same S2 astrometric data with a conventional orbit model that adds the extended cluster mass and black-hole spin as free parameters alongside Λ; if the best-fitting Λ is inconsistent with zero or with the quoted 5.67 × 10^-40 m^-2 upper bound at the 3σ level, the residual is not measuring Λ. A second independent check is to recompute δφ_Reg with a network ensemble and a bootstrap of the data: if the scatter between realizations exceeds the quoted σ_Reg, the bound is an artifact of a single trained network.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
The central discovery the paper argues for is that stellar orbits around Sgr A* can act as a local probe of the cosmological constant. With the inverse PINN framework, the authors recover the eccentricity and semi-latus rectum of the S2 orbit to within about 0.3% of the values reported from direct orbital fits, and read off a total relativistic precession of about 12.149 arcminutes per orbit. Subtracting the Schwarzschild prediction leaves a tiny residual, which the analytic formula for cosmological precession converts into the upper bound Λ ≤ 5.67 × 10^-40 m^-2. The authors present this as roughly a hundredfold tightening of the previous PINN-based limit, and argue that the S2-based constra
Load-bearing premise
The load-bearing premise is that the precession the trained network measures is exactly the sum of Schwarzschild and cosmological precession, with no other source—extended stellar mass, black-hole spin, or alternative gravity—contributing, and that the residual after subtracting Schwarzschild is wholly due to Λ.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- If the bound is right, a single well-observed stellar orbit around a supermassive black hole can constrain Λ to 10^-40 m^-2, a regime between cosmological and Solar System limits that no other single probe covers.
- The method's sub-percent recovery of e and p from noisy, unevenly sampled astrometry suggests PINN-based inference can extract dynamical parameters from sparse data, which is directly relevant for future S-star monitoring.
- The S1 and S9 tests imply that apparently tighter bounds from longer-period stars should not be trusted until their orbits are phase-complete; full orbital coverage, not just more data points, is the deciding factor.
- Tuning the loss-weight w is identified as a necessary step: the paper finds w = 6.0 × 10^-5 minimizes the physics loss and argues that earlier PINN analyses, by not scanning w, left the inferred bound partly uncontrolled.
- The framework extends to future ELT/VLT astrometry to tighten the Λ bound and to test alternative gravity theories by searching for precession residuals beyond Schwarzschild plus Λ.
Reading between the lines
- Because the residual is attributed to Λ after assuming no other precession sources, the number can also be read as an upper bound on any unmodeled precession such as an extended stellar cluster, black-hole spin, or modified gravity; a dedicated multi-parameter fit with those terms free would be needed to tell which interpretation survives.
- The subtraction is not fully independent: δφ_Reg and δφ_SP both come from the same trained network and the same fitted e and p, so the quoted error bars on δφ_Λ likely understate systematic correlations. A bootstrap or ensemble-of-networks estimate would test this.
- A similar residual analysis applied to future stars with complete orbits should produce a sequence of bounds that scale with the semimajor axis and eccentricity as the cosmological-precession formula predicts; if they do not, the attribution of the residual to Λ is suspect.
- The apparently tighter S1 and S9 bounds provide a cautionary template: any machine-learning constraint whose nominal precision improves with less complete data should be re-examined for overfitting before being quoted.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper applies a physics-informed neural network (iPINN) to astrometric data of the S-stars around Sgr A*, focusing on S2, and infers the orbital elements and the total periapsis precession δφReg. The Schwarzschild precession δφSP is computed from the inferred semi-latus rectum, and the difference δφReg − δφSP is attributed to the cosmological precession. Using the Kerr et al. (2003) formula, the paper derives an upper bound Λ ≤ 5.67×10^-40 m^-2, about two orders of magnitude tighter than the previous PINN-based estimate of Galikyan et al. (2023). The same procedure is applied to S1 and S9, yielding numerically tighter but less reliable bounds; the authors conclude that the S2 constraint is the most robust.
Significance. If the derivation were valid, the paper would present a novel, local dynamical constraint on the cosmological constant and demonstrate an interesting use of PINNs for extracting relativistic precession from sparse astrometric data. The exploration of the loss-weight hyperparameter and the honest discussion of partial-orbit coverage for S1/S9 are useful contributions, and the sub-percent recovery of the S2 orbital elements is a positive result for the machine-learning approach. However, the central constraint is not supported: the residual used to isolate Λ is an internal self-consistency error of a Schwarzschild-constrained fit rather than a measured non-Schwarzschild precession, no mock-injection or zero-Λ validation is provided, the quoted uncertainties have no documented derivation, and important astrophysical precession sources are omitted. The headline bound therefore cannot be accepted as a physical constraint.
major comments (3)
- [§2.3, Eq. (10); §3.2, Eq. (20); §4.2] The decomposition δφReg = δφSP + δφΛ is circular as implemented. The PINN output u(φ) is trained by minimizing Eq. (20), whose physics loss enforces the Schwarzschild equations (5)–(7), which contain no Λ term. The 'total precession' δφReg is read off from that same fitted orbit, while δφSP is computed from the same inferred p via Eq. (9). To the extent the physics loss is minimized, δφReg is driven toward the Schwarzschild precession for the fitted (e, p), so δφReg − δφSP is a self-consistency error of the fit, not an independent measurement of a non-Schwarzschild precession. The reported residual ≈6×10^-4 arcmin is within 1.5σ of σReg = 4.1×10^-4 arcmin and is statistically indistinguishable from zero. The paper needs a mock-injection test, including Λ = 0, demonstrating that the residual tracks an injected cosmological precession; no such validation is presented.
- [§4.2, Table 1] The uncertainties σReg and σSP are not derived anywhere in the manuscript. No ensemble size, bootstrap procedure, or error-propagation formula is given. In particular, p is an inferred iPINN parameter, but no uncertainty on p is reported, so the formal σSP ≈ 1.6×10^-9 arcmin appears to assume a delta-function p. The 3σ upper-limit construction in §4.2 therefore lacks a validated statistical basis. The authors should specify exactly how σReg was obtained (e.g., from retraining with different seeds), how the Gaussian assumption is justified, and how hyperparameter choice enters the quoted uncertainty.
- [§2.3, Eq. (10); §4.2] Equation (10) omits known physical contributions to the S2 periastron shift. An extended mass distribution in the Galactic center and black-hole spin (Lense–Thirring) produce precessions that are not included in the model. The paper cites Galikyan et al. (2024) for a cluster-density constraint but does not incorporate such a term. At the claimed precision of ~10^-4 arcmin, a quantitative bound on these contaminants is required before the residual can be attributed to Λ. Without it, the extracted δφΛ is degenerate with unmodeled Newtonian/post-Newtonian effects.
minor comments (6)
- [§4.2, Table 1] The text states that inferred orbital parameters agree with observational values to within 0.3%, but for p the deviation is (228 − 225.25)/228 ≈ 1.2%. Please correct this statement.
- [Eq. (12)] The cosmological precession formula is typeset ambiguously. Please write it as a clear fraction, verify dimensional consistency, and confirm the sign/factor against Kerr et al. (2003), since a factor error here would directly rescale the bound.
- [§3.1–§3.2] The variable φ is defined as the true anomaly in §2.1 but is later called the 'declination of the elliptical orbit' in §3.2. Please standardize the notation.
- [§4.3, Fig. 7] The text says w = 10^-3 is adopted for both S1 and S9, while Fig. 7 reports optimal w values that minimize LossPhys. Please clarify which w values were actually used and how they were selected.
- [Figs. 3 and 4] The loss curves are said to be normalized by their values in the first epoch. This normalization is not defined in the captions or in the main text, making it difficult to interpret the minima. Please specify the procedure and the number of training epochs.
- [Data Availability] The data-availability statement says data will be shared on reasonable request, but no statement is made about code availability. Given the central role of the PINN implementation, releasing code would substantially improve reproducibility.
Circularity Check
The Λ bound is derived from δφReg−δφSP, but both quantities are outputs of the same Schwarzschild-constrained PINN fit; the residual is a fit self-consistency error, not an independent cosmological signal.
-
fitted input called prediction
[§2.3 Eq. (10); applied in §4.2]
"The values of δφSP and δφReg are computed using Eq.(9) and (11), respectively. The cosmological precession δφΛ is then calculated as the difference δφReg−δφSP, in accordance with Eq.(10)."
Eq. (10) defines δφΛ as δφReg−δφSP. But δφReg is not an independent measurement: it is the periapsis shift of the PINN orbit, and the PINN's physics loss (Eq. 20, with w=6×10−5 adopted in §4.1) enforces the Schwarzschild equations (5)–(7), which contain no Λ term. In the limit of zero physics residual, the predicted orbit is a Schwarzschild solution and δφReg equals δφSP≡6πGM/(c²p) for the same inferred p. Thus δφReg−δφSP is the self-consistency error of the fit (the extent to which the network cannot simultaneously satisfy the data and the Λ-free Schwarzschild equations), not a measurement of Λ-induced precession. Converting this residual to Λ via Eq. (12) re-labels a fit inconsistency as a physical signal, so the headline bound reduces by construction to the model's own residual.
full rationale
The central claim (Λ ≤ 5.67×10−40 m−2, Eq. 21) rests entirely on Eq. (10), which decomposes the PINN's periapsis shift δφReg into Schwarzschild (δφSP) and cosmological (δφΛ) parts. The circularity is that δφReg and δφSP are both outputs of the same fit: the network is trained with Loss = w LossReg + (1−w) LossPhys, where LossPhys penalizes residuals of Eqs. (5)–(7), the Λ-free Schwarzschild equations. Therefore the trained orbit is constructed to be Schwarzschild-like, and its periapsis shift is not an independently measured total precession; it is nearly equal to 6πGM/(c²p) for the fitted p. The residual δφReg−δφSP is the physics-loss residual (model inconsistency), and the reported magnitude (~6×10−4 arcmin) is comparable to σReg=4.1×10−4 arcmin. No mock data test with Λ=0 is provided to show that the pipeline recovers zero Λ; without such a test the residual cannot be interpreted as cosmological precession. I found no load-bearing self-citation: the cited PINN prior work (Galikyan et al. 2023) is by different authors and is used as a baseline, not as the evidential support for the decomposition. The defect is therefore not self-citation but definitional reduction of the prediction to the fit residual, giving a score of 8.
Assumptions & free parameters
free parameters (3)
- Loss weight w =
6.0e-5
- Orbital eccentricity e (inferred) =
0.8861 (S2)
- Semi-latus rectum p (inferred) =
225.25 au (S2)
assumptions (4)
- domain assumption The total precession of S2 is exactly the sum of the Schwarzschild precession and the cosmological precession, with no other contributions (eq. 10).
- domain assumption The cosmological precession formula of Kerr et al. (2003), δφΛ = ... (eq. 12), is correct and applies to the S2 orbit.
- ad hoc to paper The PINN output u(φ), trained with the Schwarzschild physics loss, provides an unbiased estimate of the true orbital precession.
- standard math The Darwin-variable expansion of the Schwarzschild orbit to first order in μ (eq. 8) is accurate enough for the claimed 3σ bound.
Cite this review
Pith. "Pith review of Constraining the Cosmological Constant from Stellar Orbits Around Sgr A* Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks." pith.science (2026). https://pith.science/paper/JDQPTUQY
@misc{pith2026250819719,
author = {Pith},
title = {Pith review of: Constraining the Cosmological Constant from Stellar Orbits Around Sgr A* Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://pith.science/paper/JDQPTUQY}},
note = {Machine review of arXiv:2508.19719}
}
abstract
We present a novel analytical framework employing Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to constrain the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ through the analysis of stellar orbits around the supermassive black hole (SMBH) Sgr A* at the Galactic center. Focusing on the well-observed S2 star, we use an inverse PINN (iPINN) architecture to infer orbital elements and estimate the total precession angle from astrometric data. By isolating the contribution from $\Lambda$, which is defined as the difference between the total precession and the Schwarzschild precession, we derive a stringent upper bound of $\Lambda \leq 5.67 \times 10^{-40}, \mathrm{m}^{-2}$, which is approximately two orders of magnitude tighter than previous estimates obtained using similar data-driven methods. Extension of our analysis to two additional long-period S-stars, S1 and S9, reveals that while the cosmological precession becomes relatively more prominent in such systems, limited orbital coverage introduces significant uncertainties in parameter estimation. Among the cases examined, the constraint derived from S2 remains the most robust. Our results highlight the potential of PINN-based approaches for extracting physical insights from sparse or noisy astronomical data. Future applications to next-generation observational data and further methodological improvements in machine learning are expected to refine the cosmological constraints and enable broader tests of gravitational theories.
Figures
Figures from the paper (6 more)
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Reviewed August 5, 2026 · model on record in the stance chip above.
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