An incredible new theory that calls into question Albert Einstein’s understanding about the speed of light and physics itself will soon be tested. Einstein claimed that the speed of light remains the same no matter what hte situation, meaning that space and time could be different in different situations, but a new theory suggests that the speed of light is a variable an dnot a constant.

This is a huge deal, considering the fact that the assumption that the speed of light is constant is the basis of many thoeries in physics, including the theory of general relativity laid out by Einstein. And it plays big a role in models that explain the Big Bang and the origin of hte universe.

But researchers in England and Canada are claiming that the speed of light may have actually been much higher in the early universe, and have made a prediction that would enable scientists to test this idea.

The researchers believe that fluctuations were influenced by varying speeds of light early on in our universe’s founding, and they have produced a model to put the figure on a spectral index. The predicted figure has been published in the journal Physical Review D, enabling others to test it.

The result could be a fundamental change in our understanding of the universe, should it be confirmed.

“We explore the space of scalar-tensor theories containing two non-conformal metrics, and find a discontinuity pointing to a “critical” cosmological solution. Due to the different maximal speeds of propagation for matter and gravity, the cosmological fluctuations start off inside the horizon even without inflation, and will more naturally have a thermal origin (since there is never vacuum domination),” the intro to the paper states. “The critical model makes an unambiguous, non-tuned prediction for the spectral index of the scalar fluctuations: produced, we have unveiled the most predictive model on offer.”