2023-06-27 06:00:10
The cosmos is a unique laboratory for testing the laws of physics, especially those of Euler and Einstein. The first describes the movements of celestial objects, the second the way in which these objects deform the Universe. Since the discovery of dark matter (In astrophysics, dark matter (or dark matter), translation from English…) and acceleration (Acceleration commonly designates an increase in speed; in physics,. ..) of the expansion of the Universe, the validity of their equations is put to the test: are they able to explain these mysterious phenomena?
A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has developed the first method to know this effectively. It takes into account a measure never used before: time distortion. These results can be found in Nature Astronomy.
Image d’illustration Pixabay
The theories of Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) and Albert Einstein (Albert Einstein (born March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, and died on…) (1879-1955) revolutionized our understanding of the Universe. The first , thanks to the famous equation (In mathematics, an equation is an equality that binds different quantities, generally…) which bears its name, has provided scientists with a powerful tool for calculating the movements of galaxies in the Universe. The second, with his general theory of relativity (This article deals with the theory of relativity through the ages. In physics, the notion of…), demonstrated that the Universe is not a static framework and that it can be distorted by star clusters and galaxies.
To test the equations of these two giants, physicists have devised all sorts of tests, which have so far been passed successfully. Two discoveries, however, continue to put these models to the test: the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe and the existence of an invisible dark matter, which would represent 85% of all the matter present in the cosmos. Do these mysterious phenomena still obey the equations of Einstein and Euler? Researchers fail to answer this question unequivocally.
The missing ingredient
“In our study, we demonstrate that current cosmological data cannot differentiate a theory that violates Einstein’s equations from a theory that violates Euler’s equation. We also present a mathematical method that allows us to solve this problem. This is the culmination of ten years of research”, explains Camille Bonvin, associate professor in the Department of Theoretical Physics (Theoretical physics is the branch of physics that studies the aspect…) of the Faculty des sciences from UNIGE and first author of the study.
The galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 detected by the telescope (A telescope, (from the Greek tele meaning “far” and skopein meaning …) James Webb. This cluster is full of thousands of galaxies including the faintest objects ever observed in the world. infrared (Infrared radiation (IR) is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength…).
© NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
If the researchers were unable to differentiate, at the edge of the Universe, the validity of each of these two equations, it is because they lacked an “ingredient”: the measurement of the distortion of time. “Until then, we only knew how to measure the speed of celestial objects and the sum of the distortion of time and space. We have developed a method to access this additional measurement and this is a first”, says Camille Fine wine. If the time distortion is not equal to the sum of time and space – i.e. the result produced by the theory of general relativity – it means that Einstein’s model does not work . If the time distortion does not correspond to the speed of the galaxies calculated with the Euler equation, this means that the latter is not valid. “This will allow us to discover whether new forces or materials, which violate these two theories, exist in the Universe,” says Levon Pogosian, a professor in the University’s Department of Physics. the goal is the…) Simon Fraser, in Canada, co-author of the study.
reality check
These results constitute a crucial contribution for several missions whose objective is to determine the origin of the accelerated expansion of the Universe and the nature of dark matter. For example, the space telescope (A space telescope is a telescope placed beyond the atmosphere. The…) EUCLID which will be launched in July 2023 by the European Space Agency (The European Space Agency (ESA) (in English European Space Agency: ESA) is…) (ESA), with the collaboration of UNIGE, or the DESI instrument (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) which began its 5-year mission in 2021 in Arizona. We should also mention the international giant SKA (Square Kilometer Array) radio telescope project (A radio telescope is a specific telescope used in radio astronomy), in South Africa and Australia (Australia (officially the Commonwealth of Australia) is a country of…), whose observations (Observation is the action of attentive monitoring of phenomena, without the will to…) will begin in 2028/29.
“Our method will be integrated into these different missions. This is already the case for the DESI, of which we have become external collaborators thanks to this research”, rejoices Camille Bonvin. The research team successfully tested their model on catalogs of synthetic galaxies. The next step will be to test it using the first data provided by DESI, as well as to identify the obstacles and minimize the systematics that might hinder its application.
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