Something Wrong With Gravity

A new theory could rewrite the laws of physics as we know them, and finally explain what dark matter is Prof Robert Matthews.

- Prof Robert Matthews

Scientific riddles don’t come much more baffling than this: entire galaxies seem to be in the grip of something that affects their behaviour, but no one knows what this ‘something’ is. If it’s a form of matter, then it must be the most abundant matter in the cosmos, yet all attempts to get a sample of it have failed. Not even the Large Hadron Collider has seen a glimpse of it. It remains as enigmatic as its name: dark matter.

Now, one theorist has provoked controversy with a devastatingly simple explanation for why dark matter still hasn’t been found: it doesn’t exist.

But that’s not the only reason Prof Erik Verlinde of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is attracting so much attention. After all, others have previously suggested dark matter may be some kind of illusion.

What sets Verlinde apart is his explanation for the source of the illusion. He believes it’s the result of nothing less than a fundamental misconception about the most familiar force in the Universe: gravity.

It’s a claim that brings Verlinde up against the work of some of the greatest minds in science – including Albert Einstein, whose celebrated theory of gravity is one of the cornerstones of modern physics. Known as General Relativity, it has led to a host of triumphs, including the detection in 2015 of gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by the collision of two black holes.

THE TRUTH ABOUT GRAVITY

Verlinde has spent years piecing together clues from theory and observation to create a whole new vision of the force we call gravity. Now his ideas are being put to the test, with intriguing results. And at the centre of them all is the mystery of dark matter.