Scientists have found a surprising flaw in Einstein’s theory of relativity

• For more than a century, Albert EinsteinThe General Theory of Relativity has provided a surprisingly accurate framework for understanding the gravitational machinations of the universe.

• However, when looking at data approaching the “superhorizon,” galaxies that travel so quickly they approach the speed of light, inconsistencies show that the theory may need a cosmological extension of sorts.

• A new paper suggests that there is a “cosmic flaw” in Einstein’s theory that, once addressed, helps solve some of the gravitational problems occurring on large scales that span the universe.

When it comes to cosmological scales, Earth is just a speck among a vast ocean of supermassive black holes, ultradense neutron stars, and explosive supernovae, along with other celestial phenomena that we can only theorize about. Despite this cosmic insignificance, an intelligent life form living on the third planet of our solar system has surprisingly discovered many of the vast secrets of the universe.

Neatly packaged in his General Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein and his world-changing theory accurately predicted many of the cosmological phenomena we have glimpsed in the century since its publication, including most recently, 2019 images of M87—a supermassive black hole that closely resembled Einstein’s predictions.

However, the theory is not perfect, and one area where the physics behind Einstein’s theory begins to break down is when science approaches the “superhorizon,” or the maximum distance light has traveled since the beginning of the universe. Inconsistencies with Einstein’s ideas have led some to believe there is a “cosmic flaw” in the theory, and now scientists at the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia have formulated an “extension” of Einstein’s formulas to explain these cosmic dimensions. inconsistencies. The results of these efforts, which have lasted at least 20 years, were published in March in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

“When we try to understand gravity on a cosmic scale, at the scale of galaxy clusters and beyond, we find apparent inconsistencies with the predictions of general relativity,” said Robin Wren, a University of Waterloo graduate and lead author of the study. said in a press release. “It’s almost as if gravity itself no longer corresponds perfectly to Einstein’s theory… gravity becomes about one percent weaker when it comes to distances in the order of billions of light years.”

Many have tried to challenge the astrophysical behemoth that is Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, which has survived more than a century of immense scientific scrutiny and exploration and emerged largely unscathed, and none have done very well. Instead, researchers refer to their work as a kind of “footnote” to Einstein’s original work, meaning the theory is still our best bet for understanding our universe, but it needs small improvements. adjustments when dealing with distant galaxies traveling close to the speed of light.

When researchers analyzed modern data from observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the early radiation emitted shortly after the Big Bang, the results appeared to favor the theory of a one percent failure in dealing with the gravitational constant. on large cosmic scales. . Furthermore, the inclusion of this “cosmic glitch” also brought some other observational benefits.

“Not only is this what we found in the Cosmic Microwave Background observations, but it also makes most of the stresses much milder,” said Niayesh Afshordi of the University of Waterloo, co-author of the study. in a recent interview posted on YouTube. “In particular, the expansion rate of the universe becomes more comparable to what is observed in local measurements [the Hubble tension] and formation of structures, basically how many structures we have in the universe [the S8 tension]it becomes more consistent with the cosmic microwave background radiation and other observations of galaxies that we have.”

Researchers say future observations of the CMB will help elucidate whether this fault could help explain some of the Universe’s unsolved mysteries. But if Einstein, or even the 17th-century discoveries of Isaac Newton, the mind behind the earlier gravitational framework (before it was replaced by general relativity), are any indication, these cosmological answers will only generate more new and exciting questions.

And the enlightened residents who live in this lonely region in a vast cosmos will probably need to invent new footnotes, extensions, and perhaps even new theories to explain the great mysteries that surround us.

You may also like