Accelerating Universe theory dispels dark energy

Maybe we don't need dark energy after all:

The accelerating expansion of the Universe can be explained without invoking a force of dark energy, a group of US physicists is proposing. Gravity alone might be driving everything apart with ever-increasing speed, they claim.

Turner and his colleagues have added a term to Einstein's equations that strengthens as the Universe flattens.

The change has little effect on a young Universe, which is small, tightly packed and curvy. But after ten billion years of spreading, the new factor becomes powerful.

"We've blasphemed by changing Einstein's equations," says Turner. "The reward is that we find the natural state of an empty Universe is speeding up, and our Universe is getting emptier." The tweak to gravity also explains cosmic inflation - the Universe's mushrooming in the moments after the Big Bang."

Accelerating Universe theory dispels dark energy