Radical Theory Universe Twice as Old: 26.7 Billion Years Claimed
University of Ottawa physicists say their CCC+TL model matches several key observations while dropping dark matter and dark energy. It puts the universe's age at 26.7 billion years, nearly double the accepted 13.8 billion. The team says one major test is still unpublished.
University of Ottawa researchers say a radical theory would make the universe twice as old as currently believed, at 26.7 billion years, and would need neither dark matter nor dark energy. The accepted age is 13.8 billion years. The team reports that its model matched several important astronomical observations.
The work is not settled science. It still needs further research to support it.
What the model proposes
Rajendra Gupta, an adjunct professor in the university's Department of Physics, and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nikolaos Samaras tested the framework through 2025 and 2026. It is called CCC+TL, short for "covarying coupling constants plus tired light."
The model suggests some effects blamed on dark matter and dark energy could come from fundamental physical constants changing over time. Those constants help set how particles and forces interact.
Dark matter is thought to supply extra gravity that holds galaxies and large cosmic structures together. Dark energy is the name for whatever drives the accelerating expansion of the universe. Neither has been directly identified.
Why it matters
The standard framework, called ΛCDM, includes both. It explains many observations, but it struggles with surprisingly large, mature galaxies seen in the early universe. The standard timeline says they should barely have begun forming.
If the new model holds up, it could resolve that puzzle with a very different account of how the universe evolved.
The tests so far
CCC+TL modifies the Einstein and Friedmann equations, which describe gravity and cosmic expansion. Gupta and Samaras therefore had to write new equations and computer programs for each test.
The model predicted abundances of light elements formed shortly after the Big Bang, including hydrogen and helium. Those matched figures from the standard framework. It also agreed with cosmic chronometer measurements, which trace expansion history by comparing the ages of galaxies at different distances.
In a recent study in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the pair examined all 175 galaxies in the SPARC database. They report the model reproduced the observed rotation curves, which describe how fast stars and gas orbit at different distances from a galaxy's center, without invoking dark matter.
"Most emerging models explain only a limited set of observations," Gupta said. He added that a new model must not conflict with the pillars of cosmology and astrophysics, and that the findings meet that challenge.
That includes what he called the yet-to-be-published Cosmic Microwave Background challenge, a further test of the model that has not yet been released.
