According to conventional scientific wisdom, dark matter is thought to account for 85% of the mass of the universe. But proponents of a radical new theory of gravity in which spacetime “wobbles” argue that their approach could render elusive matter obsolete.
The proposition, outlined in a new paper, raises the controversial possibility that dark matter, which has never been directly observed before, is a mirage that a significant portion of the physics community has been chasing for decades. . Although this theory is considered quite left-wing and has not yet been thoroughly tested, the latest claims are making waves in the world of physics.
Publishing a paper on X, Professor Jonathan Oppenheim of University College London said: We show that our theory of gravity can explain the expansion of the universe and the rotation of galaxies without dark matter or dark energy. ”
Although there is multiple evidence for dark matter, its properties remain shrouded in mystery, and searches for it using the Large Hadron Collider have ended in vain. Last year, the European Space Agency launched Euclid, a mission aimed at mapping dark matter in the universe.
The latest paper, published on the Arxiv website but not yet peer-reviewed, draws similarities between dark matter and flawed concepts from the past, such as the invisible substance “ether” that once existed. This raises the question of whether dark matter exists. It is believed that it pervades the entire universe.
“In the absence of direct evidence for dark energy or dark matter, it is natural to wonder if they are unnecessary scientific constructs like the celestial sphere, the ether, or the planet Vulcan. All of these , has been replaced by a simpler explanation,” the report states. “Gravity has a long history as a trickster.”
In this case, the simpler explanation proposed is Oppenheim's “post-quantum theory of classical gravity”. The UCL professor has spent the past five years developing an approach aimed at unifying the two fundamentally contradictory pillars of modern physics: quantum theory and Einstein's theory of general relativity. Ta.
Oppenheim's theory assumes that the structure of spacetime is smooth and continuous (classical), but inherently unstable. The speed of the flow of time fluctuates randomly like a babbling stream, space is distorted haphazardly, and time diverges in different parts of the universe. This theory also assumes an essential breakdown in predictability.
The paper argues that this view of the universe could explain the groundbreaking observations of rotating galaxies that led to the “discovery” of dark matter. Stars at the edges of the galaxy, where gravity is expected to be weakest based on visible matter, should be rotating more slowly than stars at the center. However, in reality, the star's orbital motion never slows down. From this, astronomers inferred the existence of a halo of invisible (dark) matter that exerts gravitational force.
In Oppenheim's approach, the additional energy needed to keep the star fixed in its orbit is provided by random fluctuations in space-time, effectively adding gravitational background noise. This can be ignored when gravitational interactions are large, such as when the Earth orbits the Sun. But in low-gravity situations, such as at the edges of galaxies, this phenomenon can become dominant and cumulatively account for a large portion of the universe's energy.
“We have shown that we can explain the expansion of the universe and the rotation curves of galaxies without the need for dark matter or dark energy,” Oppenheim told X. Therefore, further calculations and comparisons with the data are required. But if this is true, then 95% of the energy in the universe is due to the unstable nature of space-time, and either the predictability of physics is fundamentally broken, or we are not following the laws of the universe. It seems to indicate that you have fallen into an environment where you cannot comply. classical theory or quantum theory. ”
Everyone was convinced, including famous theorists Professor Carlo Rovelli and Professor Jeff Pennington, who signed a 5,000:1 odds bet with Oppenheim against his theory being proven correct. Not that there is.
“I think it's good for physicists to explore a wide range of approaches to very difficult problems, such as the combination of quantum mechanics and gravity,” Pennington said.
“Personally, I don't believe this particular approach is correct. I've clearly been all in on this point, and there's nothing new in the recent paper that would change that assessment. ”
Some are more enthusiastic. Professor Andrew Pontzen, a cosmologist at University College London, said: “I think the authors explore some beautiful and novel ideas and do something really interesting.” “But the challenge in replacing dark matter is that there's a lot of different evidence suggesting its existence. So far, they've only picked up one of these lines. New ideas. Only time will tell whether this can truly explain the wide variety of phenomena that point to dark matter.”