BlkSabbath74
Leader of the Kurt Russell Mafia
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Could Gravity's Quantum Origins Explain Dark Energy?
A potentially transformative theoretical study links a new model of quantum gravity with the universe’s bizarrely accelerating rate of expansion
Now, however, a new theoretical study, submitted for publication at the Journal for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, suggests dark energy’s apparent antigravitational properties may be the natural, inevitable consequence of how gravity works in the first place, at the universe’s most fundamental quantum scales. If eventually verified by further cosmological evidence, the idea would represent a major breakthrough in the long quest to mend the schism between physicists’ two most cherished theories: quantum mechanics, which describes the microscopic world of particles and fields, and general relativity, which describes the macroscopic cosmos of planets, stars and galaxies. General relativity posits that gravity is an emergent property of curves and warps in spacetime—the fabric of reality itself—but the theory loses its predictive power at quantum scales; conversely, quantum mechanics accurately incorporates all other known fundamental forces save for gravity, which fails to fit into the theory. Thus, many physicists suspect a quantum theory of gravity is the only way to unify these two opposing approaches
