Freakflag Science: Meet Einstein's "teleparallel gravity"
It turns out that a theory Einstein discarded may help today's physicists understand "dark matter" and "dark energy"
Hello,
Recently, Scientific American published an article about how Einstein’s discarded theory of “teleparallelism” is being explored for new ways of understanding how gravity may be responsible for problems that physicists call “dark matter” and “dark energy.” While the magazine uses a paywall, that will never stop Freakflag!
For more information, you can check out the following articles:
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-einstein-theory-gravity-recipe-relieve.html
https://www.livescience.com/einstein-biggest-failure-teleparallel-gravity.html
Cosmologist Celia Escamilla-Rivera explains why “teleparallel gravity” is important to today’s physics in an article from Quanta Magazine, which just happens to be my favorite science magazine:
If you want a quick and easy explanation, I will call upon ChatGPT to do the talking:
“Teleparallel Gravity: Einstein’s “Twisty” Take on Gravity Explained
Teleparallel gravity is sometimes called Einstein’s “other” theory of gravity – a reformulation of general relativity that uses the twist (torsion) of space-time instead of its curvature to explain gravity . For non-experts, this means gravity can be thought of in terms of forces and twists, more like magnetism, rather than the bending of space-time in Einstein’s usual theory. In fact, teleparallel gravity treats gravity as a genuine force: space-time isn’t curved at all, so objects feel a push or pull (due to torsion) much like a charged particle feels an electromagnetic force . This contrasts with general relativity, where objects simply follow curves in space-time (the famous “warping” effect) without any force in the usual sense.
Why Teleparallel Gravity Matters Today
Although teleparallel gravity began as a historical footnote, it has gained renewed attention as physicists explore solutions to cosmic mysteries. Because it reformulates gravity, teleparallelism opens up fresh ways to tackle problems that strain general relativity. For example, dark energy and the accelerating expansion of the universe might be explained without invoking exotic new ingredients if gravity’s law is tweaked. In fact, theorists have been using teleparallel gravity to address phenomena like the universe’s accelerating expansion, the inflationary burst after the Big Bang, and even the puzzling “Hubble tension” (the disagreement in measured expansion rates) . Teleparallel gravity has proven to be pretty predictive in these arenas, notes Sutter , meaning it can fit observations that are troublesome for standard GR. A recent news article on Phys.org titled “Einstein’s other theory of gravity could have the recipe to relieve ‘Hubble trouble’” explains how Celia Escamilla-Rivera and colleagues used teleparallel gravity in a new study to reconcile differing measurements of the universe’s expansion . That article clearly defines teleparallel gravity as an alternative theory devised by Einstein that “explains gravity without the curvature of spacetime,” instead using torsion to do the job . In other words, if dark energy or cosmic expansion anomalies are the “mysteries,” teleparallel gravity offers a new investigative tool to solve them. Researchers find this promising because it might solve problems within gravity itself, rather than requiring entirely new physics like unseen dark energy fields.”