Is Dark energy a Myth? ‘Yes’ – Suggests a New Study

A new study carried out by researchers from the Eötvös Loránd University has questioned the existence of dark energy, stating that dark energy might be a myth. This study suggests that 68 percent of the universe probably does not exist, and that some more realistic factors may be driving the expansion of the universe. The new study, carried out by a team of Hungarian and American astronomers, also offers an alternative to the existing cosmological models.

It is generally believed that a mysterious dark energy is responsible for the expansion of the universe, and that dark energy accounts for about 68 percent of the observable universe’s energy. Scientists also believe that about 27% of the mass and energy in the Universe is made up of dark matter, and 5% made up the kind of normal matter. It is also believed that the galaxies were formed after occurrence of the Big Bang event, about 13.8 billion years ago, and since then, universe is constantly expanding at great speeds which are based on Hubble’s Law. Although, there are no properties to describe the nature of dark energy, it is just assumed to be a vital part of empty space, referred to as the cosmological constant, and represented by the Greek letter lambda.

“Einstein’s equations of general relativity that describe the expansion of the universe are so complex mathematically, that for a hundred years no solutions accounting for the effect of cosmic structures have been found,” said co-author Dr László Dobos of Eötvös Loránd University.

According to Dobos, earlier models sideline several vital issues, and rely on approximations that ignore its structure and assume matter to “have a uniform density.” Dr Dobos says they are only questioning the validity of the approximate solutions, and not the theory of relativity.

“We know from very precise supernova observations that the universe is accelerating, but at the same time we rely on coarse approximations to Einstein’s equations which may introduce serious side-effects, such as the need for dark energy, in the models designed to fit the observational data.”

The team’s findings are proven to be true, it will impact research in physics and several models about the evolution of universe.

The detailed findings of the study have been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.