University of Ottawa researchers reported on Wednesday that a controversial cosmological model suggests the universe is 26.7 billion years old and requires neither dark matter nor dark energy.
The standard cosmological model, known as ΛCDM, incorporates both dark matter and dark energy. Neither component has been directly identified by astronomers. Rajendra Gupta, an adjunct professor in the University of Ottawa’s department of physics, and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nikolaos Samaras evaluated an alternative framework called CCC+TL across 2025 and 2026.
Science Daily reported that the acronym stands for “covarying coupling constants plus tired light.” The model proposes that changes over time in fundamental physical constants cause effects typically attributed to dark matter and dark energy.
“Most emerging models explain only a limited set of observations,” Gupta told Science Daily. “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.”
Modifying the Einstein and Friedmann equations required the team to develop custom equations and computer programs for each test. The CCC+TL model produced results consistent with light elements created shortly after the Big Bang, such as hydrogen and helium. These calculations matched abundances from standard cosmological frameworks. The model also agreed with cosmic chronometer measurements, which reconstruct the history of cosmic expansion.
The researchers examined all 175 galaxies in the SPARC database in a study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Their model reproduced observed rotation curves without invoking dark matter. Rotation curves describe how quickly stars and gas orbit galaxy centers. Visible matter alone generally cannot explain these motions under conventional gravity.
The team investigated time dilation in observations of supernovae. That analysis supported CCC+TL, although the research paper remains under review. The researchers also studied the Bullet Cluster, a colliding galaxy cluster system. While the standard explanation relies on invisible dark matter passing through the collision with galaxies, the CCC+TL model predicted additional gravitational effect following the galaxies instead of hot gas without requiring dark matter.
“Observations attributed to dark matter and dark energy likely originate from covarying coupling constants,” Gupta added, according to Science Daily.
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered massive, mature galaxies in the early universe. Conventional models suggest they should barely have begun forming. CCC+TL places the universe’s age at roughly 4.6 billion years at the observed redshift where standard models place it at 300 million years. This grants early galaxies billions of additional years to grow.
“Impossible early galaxies become predictable galaxies,” Gupta explained to Science Daily. “We predict that galaxies exist well beyond the distances the James Webb Space Telescope has reached.”
The James Webb Space Telescope’s GLIMPSE program will search for distant galaxies at redshifts exceeding 50. The Bullet Cluster findings provide an initial proof of concept, but researchers emphasize that the model requires further independent examination. The standard cosmological model continues to explain a broad range of astronomical observations.
“The success should encourage astronomers to take the new model seriously,” Gupta concluded, according to Science Daily. “It is challenging to understand and apply, but we believe it extends the physics of the Universe beyond ΛCDM limits.”
