Scientists have discovered a phenomenon they called a “cosmic glitch” in gravity. The discovery may explain the strange behavior of the universe, which does not coincide with mathematical calculations and simulations.
According to a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, scientists from the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia in Canada argue that Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity may not be sufficient to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe.
“This model of gravity has been essential for everything from theorizing the Big Bang to photographing black holes. But when we try to understand gravity on a cosmic scale, at the scale of galaxy clusters and beyond, we encounter apparent inconsistencies with the predictions of general relativity. It’s almost as if gravity itself stops perfectly matching Einstein’s theory. We are calling this inconsistency a ‘cosmic glitch’: gravity becomes around one percent weaker when dealing with distances in the billions of light years,” said Robin Wen, lead author and graduate of mathematical physics at Waterloo.
In response, scientists have developed a new model to explain this glitch, which modifies Einstein’s theory to eliminate these differences. This is one possible solution to a problem that astronomers and physicists have been pondering for decades.
“Almost a century ago, astronomers discovered that our universe is expanding. The farther away galaxies are, the faster they are moving, to the point that they seem to be moving at nearly the speed of light, the maximum allowed by Einstein’s theory,” explained Niayesh Afshordi, co–author of the study and professor of astrophysics at the University of Waterloo.
Our finding suggests that, on those very scales, Einstein’s theory may also be insufficient,” he added.
According to Afshordi, their proposed model for a “cosmic glitch” is just the first step, which may be just the beginning in solving the cosmic mystery in space and time.
Earlier, we reported on how astronomers saw the curvature of space-time by Einstein cross.
According to phys.org
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