<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><span><div><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-supernovae-universe-expansion-understood-dark.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span id="lw_1319470583_0" class="yshortcuts"><font color="#234786">http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-supernovae-universe-expansion-understood-dark.html</font></span></a></div><div> </div><div>"While the concept of light’s least-time path seems to be capable </div><div>of explaining the supernovae data in agreement with the rest of </div><div>our observations of the universe, Annila notes that it would be </div><div>even more appealing if this one theoretical concept could solve</div><div> a few problems at the same time. And it may – Annila shows </div><div>that, when gravitational lensing is analyzed with this concept, </div><div>it does not require dark matter to explain the
results.</div><div> </div><div>Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts that massive objects, </div><div>such as galaxies, cause light to bend due to the way their gravity </div><div>distorts spacetime, and scientists have observed that this is exactly </div><div>what happens. The problem is that the deflection seems to be larger</div><div> than what all of the known (luminous) matter can account for, </div><div>prompting researchers to investigate the possibility of dark </div><div>(nonluminous) matter.</div><div> </div><div>However, when Annila used Maupertuis’ principle of least action </div><div>to analyze how much a galaxy of a certain mass should deflect </div><div>passing light, he calculated the total deflection to be about five </div><div>times larger than the value given by general relativity. In other </div><div>words, the observed deflections require less mass than previously </div><div>thought, and it can be entirely accounted
for by the known matter </div><div>in galaxies."</div><div> </div><div>Dennis May</div></span></div></body></html>