University of Ottawa:

A radical alternative to the standard picture of the cosmos is gaining attention after researchers at the University of Ottawa reported that it successfully matched several important astronomical observations. The model suggests that the Universe could be 26.7 billion years old, nearly twice the widely accepted age of 13.8 billion years, and that neither dark matter nor dark energy is needed to explain its behavior.

If further research supports these findings, the theory could offer a very different explanation for how the Universe evolved. It may also help resolve one of modern astronomy’s most puzzling discoveries: the existence of surprisingly large and mature galaxies at a time when the conventional model suggests they should barely have begun forming.

Throughout 2025 and 2026, Rajendra Gupta, an adjunct professor in the University of Ottawa’s Department of Physics, and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nikolaos Samaras evaluated an alternative cosmological framework known as CCC+TL against several major astronomical observations.

The name stands for “covarying coupling constants plus tired light.” Rather than relying on dark matter and dark energy, the model proposes that some of the effects attributed to these mysterious components could result from changes over time in fundamental physical constants. These constants help determine how particles and forces interact.

For decades, astronomers have searched for direct evidence of dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is thought to provide additional gravity that helps explain how galaxies move and how large cosmic structures hold together. Dark energy is the name given to whatever is causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate. Although extensive observations support their gravitational and cosmological effects, neither component has been directly identified.

The prevailing cosmological framework, called ΛCDM, incorporates both. Despite its success in explaining a wide range of observations, it faces questions raised by the discovery of unexpectedly developed galaxies in the early Universe.

“Most emerging models explain only a limited set of observations,” Professor Gupta says. “A new model must not conflict with the pillars of cosmology and astrophysics, and our findings meet that challenge, including the yet-to-be-published Cosmic Microwave Background challenge.” [Continue reading…]