01 January 1970 5 880 Report

So far, say at the end of February 2019, no one seems to have explained how the current laws of physics explain what is called the accelerating expansion of the universe, or dark energy. Physicists have tried using the ideas of GR, MOND (modified Newtonian dynamics) and other ideas but so far without a result convincing physics. This approach might be analogized to the synthetic method of proof in mathematics. Start with known mathematical theorems and derive the sought after result. But what about the analytic approach?

The analytic approach in mathematics, roughly, starts from what it is desired to prove and, step by step, determines at each step what antecedent statements of mathematics would be required to lead to the current step. Has an analytic approach been applied to dark energy?

For example, does dark energy occur only at vast cosmological scales? If that were true (I suspect not, but perhaps it is true), then the applicable law must only apply at vast cosmological scales. Does gravity qualify? Should the law be isotropic at large cosmological scales? And here is a wrinkle. What if the expansion of space is scale invariant but has not yet been recognized yet at scales between quantum and cosmological? Then assumptions about what features the requisite law should have may be mistaken. What features do you think a law that explains dark energy should have?

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