IU professor contributes to proposed dark matter, dark energy theory

IU mathematics professor Shouhong Wang is one of two contributors to a proposed theory about dark matter and dark energy. The theory alters physicist Albert Einstein’s equations regarding gravity.

Wang and Sichuan University Professor Tian Ma’s findings suggest that the presence of dark matter and dark energy, which scientists believe make up at least 95 percent of the universe, necessitates changes in Einstein’s field equations, according to a press release.

Wang said in the release that dark matter is a “great mystery concerning our universe.” The universe contains more matter than has been accounted for, he said, and dark matter is the term for the missing matter.

When Einstein originally developed his equations describing the fundamentals of gravity, dark matter and dark energy had yet to be discovered.

Wang and Ma propose the law of energy and momentum conservation in spacetime can work only when dark matter and dark energy are taken into account.

“Many people have come up with different theories for dark energy,” Wang said. “Unfortunately, the mystery remains, and, in fact, the nature of dark energy is now perhaps the most profound mystery in cosmology and astrophysics.”

The team’s work was funded in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.

“In a nutshell, we believe that new gravity theory will change our view on energy, gravitational interactions and the structure and formation of our universe,” Wang said.
Mathematics Department Chair Kevin Zumbrun said though experimentation must take place, the team’s work thus far appears to be sound.

“It is speculative, at the cosmological level, since one must match with experiment, but the math is solid,” he said in the press release. “It’s a new and elegant angle on things, and if this does match experiment, it is a huge discovery.”

— Kirsten Clark