Findings by dark energy researchers back Einstein's conception of gravity

20/11/2024 12:13

        Scientists working in an international collaboration have tracked how the structure of the cosmos has grown over the past 11 billion years, providing the most precise test to date of how gravity behaves at very large scales. And what they found is that it acts as physicist Albert Einstein predicted it would in his groundbreaking 1915 theory of general relativity.
        
        The findings announced on Tuesday are part of a years-long study of the history of the cosmos focusing upon dark energy, an invisible and enigmatic force that is accelerating the ongoing expansion of the universe. The researchers used a year of observations by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, which can capture light from 5,000 galaxies simultaneously.
        
        Gravity is one of the universe's fundamental forces. Einstein's theory linked space, time and gravity. It holds that concentrations of mass and energy curve the structure of space-time, influencing the motion of whatever passes nearby.
        
        "Einstein's theory of general relativity describes the motion of massive objects in a gravitational field that they create. It is one of the most successful physical theories that we have. The discovery of the accelerating universe, however, led to suggestions that maybe general relativity needs to be modified," said University of Michigan cosmologist Dragan Huterer.