University of Ottawa’s Professor Rajendra Gupta challenges the current theoretical model for the composition of the Universe by showing that, in fact, it has no room for dark matter.
This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
In cosmology, the term dark matter describes all that appears not to interact with light or the electromagnetic field, or that can only be explained through gravitational force.
We can’t see it, nor do we know what it’s made of, but it helps us understand how galaxies, planets and stars behave.
Professor Gupta used a combination of the covarying coupling constants (CCC) and ‘tired light’ (TL) theories (the CCC+TL model) to reach this conclusion.
His model combines two ideas: about how the forces of nature decrease over cosmic time and about light losing energy when it travels a long distance.
It’s been tested and has been shown to match up with several observations, such as about how galaxies are spread out and how light from the early Universe has evolved.
This discovery challenges the prevailing understanding of the Universe, which suggests that roughly 27% of it is composed of dark matter and less than 5% of ordinary matter, remaining being the dark energy.
“The new findings confirm that our previous work about the age of the Universe being 26.7 billion years has allowed us to discover that the Universe does not require dark matter to exist,” Professor Gupta said.
“In standard cosmology, the accelerated expansion of the Universe is said to be caused by dark energy but is in fact due to the weakening forces of nature as it expands, not due to dark energy.”
In his research, Professor Gupta analyzed data from recent papers on the distribution of galaxies at low redshifts and the angular size of the sound horizon in the literature at high redshift.
“There are several papers that question the existence of dark matter, but mine is the first one, to my knowledge, that eliminates its cosmological existence while being consistent with key cosmological observations that we have had time to confirm,” he said.
“By challenging the need for dark matter in the Universe and providing evidence for a new cosmological model, this study opens up new avenues for exploring the fundamental properties of the Universe.”
The paper was published in the Astrophysical Journal.
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Rajendra P. Gupta et al. 2024. Testing CCC+TL Cosmology with Observed Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Features. ApJ 964, 55; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad1bc6
