A French-Swiss group of scientists tried to use factual material to verify the accuracy of Einstein’s equations describing the Universe. To do this, they used data from the Dark Energy Survey for the first three years of observations. An analysis of the influence of 100 million galaxies on space-time yielded deviations from Einstein’s predictions by 3 sigma, which is not enough for a discovery, but enough to raise doubts about the correctness of the great scientist’s equations.
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As Einstein predicted in 1915, gravity is more than the force of universal gravity that Newton and his laws spoke about. In 1919, by directly measuring the deflection of starlight by the Sun (its gravity), Einstein’s equations were confirmed by observation. Since then, only lazy scientists have not tried to refute Albert Einstein, who introduced a distortion of not only space, but also time into the metric of gravity. So far, Einstein’s equations, which are part of the General Theory of Relativity, remain unshakable.
Researchers from the universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Toulouse (University III Paul Sabatier) used the first data from the Dark Energy Survey to test Einstein’s equations using observations of 100 million galaxies. Data were obtained for objects at distances of 3.5, 5, 6 and 7 billion years ago. According to scientists, this is the first analysis of data on the influence of the masses of galaxies on space and time simultaneously.
According to Einstein’s theory, matter creates a curvature of space-time, the greater the mass. This is usually illustrated by placing a heavy ball on an elastic surface, which it presses the harder the heavier it is – this is usually called gravity wells. You just have to remember that matter distorts space in all directions in three dimensions, so a well is actually more of a ball or a spherical volume in space-time. But these are details. From Einstein’s equations, we can calculate how much light will refract—gravitational lensing will occur as it passes through clusters of masses. And if a deviation from the observables appears in these calculations, then the Universe may turn out to be completely different or not everywhere as Einstein predicted.
From the Dark Energy Survey data, scientists concluded that at a distance of 6 and 7 billion years from us, Einstein’s equations can be said to be flawless. At a distance of 3.5 and 5 billion years from us, deviations between observations and calculations appeared. The deviations amounted to 3 sigma, while deviations of 5 sigma are considered to be a significant result. According to researchers, significant deviations of observational results from predictions force us to increase the intensity of work in this area. Differences began to be observed at the stage when the Universe began to expand rapidly. The “gravity wells” in this segment became smaller—gravity began to manifest itself weaker.
Dark energy is responsible for the accelerated expansion of the Universe – an unknown substance or property of the Universe, and maybe even gravity, since changes have begun to be observed in connection with each other. Einstein’s equations describe our Universe (Friedmann’s Universe) and any other versions of the Universes. The discovery of a flaw in them would be a discovery of enormous significance and would help answer many questions about the structure of the universe.