Geneva researchers put Einstein’s theory of relativity to the test
Published: Monday, Nov 11th 2024, 12:20
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A French-Swiss research team with scientists from the University of Geneva has questioned Albert Einstein's theory of relativity with its discoveries. The researchers discovered a slight discrepancy in the deformation of matter.
According to Einstein's theory, the universe is deformed by matter, like a large, flexible foil. These deformations - also known as gravitational potentials - are caused by the gravitational force of celestial bodies, the University of Geneva wrote in a press release on Monday. Light is bent by these indentations, just like a glass lens.
Using the Dark Energy Survey, a project that maps the shape of hundreds of millions of galaxies, the Geneva researchers, together with the University of Toulouse, investigated the distribution of matter in the universe. Galaxies at four different points in time in the past were analyzed.
Six and seven billion years ago, the depth of the depressions matched Einstein's predictions exactly. In the near past, 3.5 and five billion years ago, the depressions were somewhat shallower than predicted. During this period, the expansion of the universe also began to accelerate.
The researchers deduced from the results that the explanation for the acceleration of the universe and the gravitational potential could be the same. Gravity could function on a large scale according to different physical laws than those predicted by Einstein.
However, the discrepancy discovered with Einstein's theories is not large enough to invalidate his theory. More precise measurements are essential to confirm or refute the results and to find out whether this theory is still valid in our universe at very large distances. Such a more precise analysis is made possible by the new data from the Euclid space telescope, which was launched a year ago. It is expected to observe around 1.5 billion galaxies over a six-year mission.
©Keystone/SDA
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