The discovery could change Einstein's theory of relativity – and completely remove the need for dark energy.
The British physicist has developed a theory that could solve one of the biggest mysteries of the universe: why the rate of its expansion is increasing, and not slowing down, as predicted by the known laws of physics.
A theory known as 'massive gravity' would change Einstein's theory of general relativity. And the physicist behind it, Claudia de Ram of Imperial College London, received a $ 100,000 award to continue her development.
Currently, the best explanation for scientists how our universe came into being is based on the idea of the Big Bang, which accelerated particles ejected from a single point. These particles eventually formed atoms, and then molecules, planets, stars and, well, everything.
Based on Einstein's theory of general relativity, the gravitational forces of all these objects should gradually 'pull together' the universe, slowing the rate of its expansion.
But by 1998, scientists realized that the expansion rate was not only not decreasing, but increasing. They didn't know why, so they attributed the acceleration to an invisible force, which they called 'dark energy'.
De Rham's theory of massive gravity removes the need for dark energy by modifying Einstein's theory of general relativity: instead of assuming that gravitons, the hypothetical particles responsible for the force of gravity, are massless, as Einstein said, it assumes they have weight
As she explained to The Guardian, this would allow gravity itself to fulfill the role currently attributed to dark energy.
De Ram was not the first to try to create a working model for the theory of massive gravity. But in 2011, she and her colleagues published an article on the matter that has since gained traction, leading to follow-up research and the Blavatnik Prize for Young Scientists last week.
She now hopes advances in gravitational wave astronomy will test the predictions of massive gravity over the next decade.
“It would be amazing if it was proven right,” De Rham told The Guardian. “It may or may not happen, but what will happen is that we will have a much better fundamental understanding of gravity, and it's just something so profound that this is one of the biggest questions today.”
