A controversial new paper says the universe might be twice as old as we thought and claims that dark matter, a mysterious substance believed by many scientists to be a major part of the universe, might not actually be real.
Dark matter is thought to make up a big portion of the universe but can’t be seen because it doesn’t interact with light or other electromagnetic forces. Instead, it’s only detected through its gravitational effects. This has puzzled scientists for a long time.
Rajendra Gupta, a physics professor at the University of Ottawa, published this paper in the Astrophysical Journal. He previously suggested that the universe might be 26.7 billion years old, which is twice as old as what’s commonly believed.
In this new paper, Gupta builds on his earlier idea and questions whether dark matter is necessary.
“Our study shows that our previous work about the age of the universe being 26.7 billion years has led us to the idea that the Universe doesn’t need dark matter to exist,” said Gupta in a statement.
This theory goes against what most experts believe.
Common ideas say that the universe’s expanding speed is linked to something called a positive cosmological constant. This constant helps explain dark energy, which is the main part of the universe, making up about 68 percent of its energy.
While dark matter is thought to be most of what makes up galaxies and decides how they’re arranged, dark energy pushes the universe to expand faster.
But Rajendra Gupta doesn’t agree. To support his new idea, he looked at work by Fritz Zwicky, a Swiss physicist from the late 1920s. Zwicky suggested that light from faraway objects might lose energy, known as the “tired light” idea.
Gupta combined this with a new idea called a “covarying coupling constant.” Unlike the usual cosmological constant, this suggests that forces in nature get weaker over time. He argues that dark matter might not be needed in the universe’s story at all.
“In regular cosmology, dark energy makes the universe expand faster,” Gupta said. “But I think it’s because the forces of nature get weaker as it expands, not because of dark energy.”
Of course, big ideas like this need strong proof, so other scientists might not agree right away.
“Many papers doubt dark matter, but mine is the first, as far as I know, that says it’s not needed in the universe’s story, while still matching important observations we’ve confirmed over time,” Gupta explained.
