If gravity itself isn’t a fundamental force, but rather an emergent ones, many of the mysteries of space and time may have a different solution than the ones we’re presently seeking. Image credit: Zoltán Vörös of flickr.

Recent claims invalid: Emergent Gravity might deliver a Universe without dark matter

The latest challenger to dark matter’s throne may not be so difficult to knock off, after all.

This post was written by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in quantum gravity and high energy physics. She also freelance writes about science.

“In our description of nature the purpose is not to disclose the real essence of the phenomena but only to track down, as far as possible, relations between the manifold aspects of our experience.” -Niels Bohr

Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, which means it’s not derived from anything else — it just is. At least, that’s according to our presently accepted theories. But this may be about to change.

The warping of spacetime, in the General Relativistic picture, by gravitational masses. Image credit: LIGO/T. Pyle.

Physicists today describe the gravitational interaction through Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, which dictates the effects of gravity are due to the curvature of space-time. But it’s already been 20 years since Ted Jacobson demonstrated that General Relativity resembles thermodynamics, which is a framework…