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> Why must space without matter/mass be non-distorted to begin with? It doesn't have to be. De Sitter came up with solutions to the equations of GR that were f
by tjradcliffe 12y ago
> Why must space without matter/mass be non-distorted to begin with?
It doesn't have to be. De Sitter came up with solutions to the equations of GR that were free of ordinary matter but included a cosmological constant that is the effect of an "inherent" curvature of space-time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Sitter_universe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Sitter_universe
However, the kind of curvature you get from a cosmological constant is not sufficient to explain everything that is observed, so even though modern cosmologies typically have a "dark energy" term (which is another name for a cosmological constant) they require an extra matter term (dark matter) to describe the universe we see.
- karmakaze 12y agoGreat responses--different observations and types of curvature to explain. I realize now that my question is inherently flawed--where space 'is' distorted and we don't find ordinary matter we still need some explanation matterlike or otherwise. I also found out about MOND and TeVeS "which try to account for the anomalous observations without requiring additional matter" although minor, does probe in a different direction altogether.