New research puts age of universe at 26.7 billion years, nearly twice as old as previously believed

Our universe could possibly be twice as previous as present estimates, in line with a brand new research that challenges the dominant cosmological mannequin and sheds new gentle on the so-called “not possible early galaxy downside.”

The work is revealed within the journal Month-to-month Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“Our newly-devised mannequin stretches the galaxy formation time by a a number of billion years, making the universe 26.7 billion years previous, and never 13.7 as beforehand estimated,” says creator Rajendra Gupta, adjunct professor of physics within the School of Science on the College of Ottawa.

For years, astronomers and physicists have calculated the age of our universe by measuring the time elapsed because the Massive Bang and by finding out the oldest stars based mostly on the redshift of sunshine coming from distant galaxies. In 2021, due to new methods and advances in know-how, the age of our universe was thus estimated at 13.797 billion years utilizing the Lambda-CDM concordance mannequin.

Nevertheless, many scientists have been puzzled by the existence of stars just like the Methuselah that look like older than the estimated age of our universe and by the invention of early galaxies in a complicated state of evolution made doable by the James Webb Area Telescope. These galaxies, current a mere 300 million years or so after the Massive Bang, seem to have a degree of maturity and mass sometimes related to billions of years of cosmic evolution. Moreover, they’re surprisingly small in measurement, including one other layer of thriller to the equation.

Zwicky’s drained gentle principle proposes that the redshift of sunshine from distant galaxies is as a result of gradual lack of power by photons over huge cosmic distances. Nevertheless, it was seen to battle with observations. But Gupta discovered that “by permitting this principle to coexist with the expanding universe, it turns into doable to reinterpret the redshift as a hybrid phenomenon, moderately than purely as a consequence of enlargement.”

Along with Zwicky’s drained gentle principle, Gupta introduces the thought of evolving “coupling constants,” as hypothesized by Paul Dirac. Coupling constants are fundamental physical constants that govern the interactions between particles. Based on Dirac, these constants may need diverse over time. By permitting them to evolve, the timeframe for the formation of early galaxies noticed by the Webb telescope at excessive redshifts might be prolonged from just a few hundred million years to a number of billion years. This offers a extra possible clarification for the superior degree of improvement and mass noticed in these historic galaxies.

Furthermore, Gupta means that the standard interpretation of the “cosmological fixed,” which represents dark energy answerable for the accelerating enlargement of the universe, wants revision. As a substitute, he proposes a relentless that accounts for the evolution of the coupling constants. This modification within the cosmological mannequin helps tackle the puzzle of small galaxy sizes noticed within the early universe, permitting for extra correct observations.