OXFORD, England, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The genius of Albert Einstein, who added a "cosmological constant" to his expansion of the university equation, but later retracted it, may be vindicated.
Research published Wednesday in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics finds the enigmatic "dark energy" that drives the acceleration of the Universe behaves just as Einstein's cosmological constant predicted.
The finding comes from the Supernova Legacy Survey, a team of researchers in France and Canada, collaborating with large telescope observers in Oxford, England, and other countries.
The researchers say their observations reveal the dark energy behaves like Einstein's cosmological constant to a precision of 10 percent.
"We have set ourselves a very challenging goal: to distinguish whether the dark energy can be explained by Einstein's cosmological constant or whether a new physical theory is needed," said Isobel Hook of the University of Oxford. "So far, our results are consistent with Einstein's cosmological constant."
She added: "Einstein invented the 'cosmological constant' to make his equations fit with his ideas about the Universe, but later regretted it, calling it his 'biggest blunder.' Now we know he may have been closer to the truth than he realized."
