Constantinos Skordis even hopes to enlarge Einstein’s theory of gravity in order to explain various observations in the areas of cosmology and gravity. The project has secured a Consolidator Grant of €1.2 million from the European Research Council. “If we have already discovered all the forms of matter and energy in the Universe and if the theory of gravity that we currently use is correct, then a plethora of cosmological and astrophysical observations in the last 40 years cannot be explained,” Skordis says in an interview with the Cyprus News Agency.

One example is the rate of expansion of the Universe. “We can measure how fast the Universe expands in time. What we observe is that for the past few billion years, this expansion has been accelerated. If we have already found all the possible forms of matter and energy then this observation cannot be explained. In other words, either there must be a new form of energy - called the Dark Energy - or the force of gravity is not correctly described using the theory we currently have, as in that case, the expansion of the Universe should have been decelerating rather than accelerating,” he explains.

He adds that “many other observations suggest the existence of far more matter than what we observe with light. The theory of gravity plays a major role in the interpretation of these observations. We observe with light and then use the theory of gravity to calculate how physical bodies, such as stars or galaxies, move”.

Skordis tells CNA he does not dispute Einstein`s theory. In fact, he says, Einstein`s theory is the foundation. “It is valid on smaller distance scales, for instance, on the Earth and in our solar system. We know that Einstein`s theory may have problems in the sub-atomic world, that is for distances much smaller than the atomic nucleus. In these small distances, this theory is in conflict with the laws of quantum mechanics which govern the atoms and sub-atomic particles. So we know that something else must happen on those small scales, perhaps Einstein's theory has to be amended. It's possible that something similar is needed on very large scales, those of the Universe. Let us assume that there is a better theory - which is currently unknown - to which Einstein's theory is just an approximation, a small piece. Which means we would need to enlarge Einstein's theory in order to explain more phenomena. We never replace theories in physics, we only enlarge them, make them better,” he says.

Along with his team, the young researcher will use cosmological observations from the Planck satellite of the European Space Agency to test various theories of gravity and different models of Dark matter and Dark energy. “We expect to significantly expand our knowledge on the role of gravity in cosmology and the Dark sector,” he says.

According to Skordis, this ERC-funded research could reveal findings that technology will only allow us to utilise in 100-200 years. “What usually happens is that many practical applications arise over time,” he says. He adds that a secondary effect of the research is the evolution of technology. For example in 1997 NASA created a charge-coupled device (CCD) for Hubble Space Telescope to increase the qualityand breadth of phenomena it could image in space. Later on, the LORAD Corporation used the same idea to perform more precise tests on women who may have breast cancer, with greater accuracy and at lower cost.]

Skordis and his team, comprising four more researchers, will carry out their project at the University of Cyprus, in Nicosia. In the past he has worked with researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Nottingham, California (Davis) and Victoria in Canada. As a physicist specialising in gravitation and cosmology, Skordis says that in the future he wants to further explore these two areas. “My goal is also to promote research in Cyprus. This means that we must designate policies that would attract top researchers from abroad. Exploiting research programs of the EU could help, as a first step. Developing research and the appropriate infrastructure would help Cyprus’ economy in the future,” he says.

Source: Famagusta Gazette