In their quest to understand the fundamental forces of the universe, scientists have gotten stuck on gravity. While the other forces — electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force — have been successfully described by quantum mechanics, gravity has resisted joining this framework, and stubbornly so.

Einstein’s general relativity is an exceptional theory of gravity that has been proven correct time and time again. Quantum mechanics takes care of the three other fundamental forces, and it too has been exceptionally successful over the last century.

For decades, physicists have struggled to reconcile the laws governing the very small with those that describe the vast cosmos. Quantum mechanics rules subatomic particles, while general relativity explains gravity’s role in shaping space and time.

In a new study published in Physical Review D, Professor Ginestra Bianconi, Professor of Applied Mathematics at Queen Mary University of London, proposes a new framework that could revolutionize our understanding of gravity and its relationship with quantum mechanics.