A controversial new paper suggests the universe is twice as previous as present fashions recommend and that darkish matter — the mysterious stuff believed by an amazing majority of physicists to make up a lot of the universe — does not really exist.It is usually believed that darkish matter does not work together with gentle or the electromagnetic discipline in any means, however can exert gravitational pressure. It is a conundrum that is plagued astrophysicists for many years — it will possibly’t be straight noticed, but is believed to make up 26 % of the universe.College of Ottawa physics professor Rajendra Gupta, the only creator of a brand new paper revealed within the Astrophysical Journal, made headlines final yr after suggesting the universe was 26.7 billion years previous, twice as previous as its usually accepted age.In his newest paper, Gupta builds on his principle, difficult the necessity for darkish matter.”The examine’s findings affirm that our earlier work in regards to the age of the universe being 26.7 billion years has allowed us to find that the Universe doesn’t require darkish matter to exist,” stated Gupta in a press release.For sure, it is a controversial principle that straight flies within the face of stuff that is kind of universally agreed upon by consultants.Prevailing theories recommend the accelerating growth of the universe is tied to a constructive cosmological fixed. This fixed has typically been used to elucidate the existence of darkish vitality, the dominant element of the universe, making up an estimated 68 % of its whole vitality.Whereas darkish matter makes up many of the mass of galaxies and determines how they’re organized, darkish vitality drives the accelerated growth of the universe.However that is not how Gupta sees it. To again up his revised mannequin, the professor borrowed from earlier analysis of Swiss physicist Fritz Zwicky, who steered within the late Nineteen Twenties that pink gentle emanating from distant celestial objects could also be the results of vitality being misplaced, a principle that turned generally known as the “drained gentle” speculation.By combining this principle with a brand new “covarying coupling fixed,” which, not like the prevailing cosmological fixed, means that the forces of nature decline over time, Gupta argues that darkish matter does not need to be a part of the equation in any respect.”In commonplace cosmology, darkish vitality causes the accelerated growth of the universe,” Gupta defined. “Nonetheless, it’s because of the weakening forces of nature because it expands, not darkish vitality.”For sure, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof — so count on pushback from Gupta’s friends.”There are a number of papers that query the existence of darkish matter, however mine is the primary one, to my information, that eliminates its cosmological existence whereas being in keeping with key cosmological observations that we’ve got had time to verify,” stated Gupta within the assertion.Extra on darkish matter: Scientists Befuddled by Unattainable Galaxy Seen by James Webb