As of: March 13, 2024, 11:24 a.m
By: Tanja Banner
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Physicists present a revolutionary theory that could make dark matter and dark energy obsolete.
But not everyone is convinced.
London – Dark matter, together with dark energy, makes up 95 percent of the mass of our universe, according to the Standard Model of cosmology.
Although both are not visible, they still have gravitational effects on their surroundings.
An example of this is the inexplicably high speed at which stars move at the edge of their galaxy - faster than the gravitational force of visible matter can explain.
Despite these obvious effects, dark matter has not yet been directly detected or discovered in space.
The ESA space probe “Euclid” recently began its journey into space to collect data that will shed light on how dark matter and dark energy have shaped our universe.
However, a research team led by physics professor Jonathan Oppenheim from University College London has now presented a new theory that completely questions the need for dark matter and dark energy.
Is there dark matter and dark energy in space?
A new theory wants to show that both are obsolete.
(Symbolic image) © Nasa, Esa , and J. Maíz Apellániz (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain);
Acknowledgment: N. Smith (University of Arizona)
Researchers are questioning common beliefs: Do we even need dark matter in the universe?
“Guys, something seems to be happening.
“We show that our theory of gravity can explain the expansion of the universe and galactic rotation without dark matter or dark energy,” Oppenheim recently announced on X (formerly Twitter).
In their study, which has so far only been published on the preprint server arXiv and has not yet been peer-reviewed, Oppenheim and his co-author Andrea Russo argue: “Since there is no direct evidence for dark energy or dark matter, it is only natural , wondering whether these are unnecessary scientific constructs, such as celestial spheres, aether or the planet Vulcan, all of which have been replaced by simpler explanations.
Gravity has a long history of trickery.”
How the Standard Model of cosmology classifies the masses in the universe
According to the standard model of cosmology, around 68.3 percent of the universe consists of dark energy, 26.8 percent is dark matter and around 4.9 percent is “ordinary matter”, which is further divided into self-luminous components (e.g. stars) and non-self-luminous ones Components (e.g. planets or cold gas).
In their working paper, Oppenheim and Russo propose a new theory of gravity that is intended to combine quantum theory and Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
This theory is also intended to explain why stars at the edges of galaxies rotate faster than expected.
“We show that it can explain the expansion of the universe and galactic rotation curves without requiring dark matter or dark energy,” writes Oppenheim on X.
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There is some indirect evidence for dark matter - new theory of gravity not without controversy
However, the researcher warns against hasty conclusions.
There is further indirect evidence for dark matter that requires further calculations.
If the new theory is correct, “95 percent of the energy in the universe appears to be due to the unpredictable nature of spacetime, suggesting either a fundamental breakdown in the predictability of physics or we are in an environment that does not conform to the laws of classical or quantum theory obeys,” says Oppenheim.
However, the new gravity theory is not without controversy.
Physicists Carlo Rovelli and Geoff Penington have even made a bet that the theory won't be proven correct, the
Guardian
reports.
“I think it's good that physicists are exploring a variety of approaches to very difficult problems such as the combination of quantum mechanics and gravity,” the British newspaper quoted Penington as saying.
But he personally doesn’t believe “that this particular approach will be the right one.”
Can the new theory exist without dark matter?
Cosmologist Andrew Pontzen, on the other hand, is enthusiastic about the new theory.
“I think the authors are onto something really interesting here and are exploring some beautiful and novel ideas.” However, the challenge of replacing dark matter is enormous.
“There is so much different evidence pointing to their presence.
So far they have only dealt with one of these lines.
Only time will tell whether the new ideas can really explain the wide variety of phenomena that indicate dark matter,” says the cosmologist.
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