The universe operates under different laws: physicists' research challenges the dominant model of the cosmos.

The fundamental principle of modern cosmology is the cosmological principle. It states that no matter where you go in the universe, it will always be roughly the same. The cosmological principle asserts that the universe has no center and no preferred directions, especially when observed on sufficiently large scales. In other words, regardless of location or direction, the universe appears homogeneous, which forms the basis of the standard cosmological model. However, a number of mysterious anomalies discovered in recent years suggest that the cosmos may be more complex than previously thought. Astrophysicists believe that the validity of the cosmological principle can be tested through weak gravitational lensing. If the principle is not confirmed, it would lead to a reevaluation of our understanding of the universe's architecture and the physics governing it. This research was published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, as reported by Earth.

The standard cosmological model, which describes the expansion, structure, and evolution of the universe, is based on two assumptions:

• The universe is homogeneous, meaning it is the same everywhere when viewed on very large scales;
• The universe is isotropic, meaning it is the same in all directions.

Recent observations of the cosmos, including the detection of varying rates of the universe's expansion and anomalies in the cosmic microwave background radiation, challenge the assumption that the universe is isotropic. According to astrophysicists, this indicates that the universe may be anisotropic, meaning it varies in different directions, although there is currently no clear evidence for this.

Scientists have proposed a new method to test whether the universe is indeed expanding uniformly. Their method is based on weak gravitational lensing, where massive objects distort the light coming from distant galaxies, causing slight distortions in the observed shapes of galaxies.

According to astrophysicists, the analysis of light distortion in weak gravitational lensing can be divided into two main components:

• E-type distortion, which aligns well with an isotropic and homogeneous universe;
• B-type distortion, which should remain minimal on large scales if the universe truly has no preferred directions.

Scientists believe that if anisotropic expansion of the universe truly exists, it would lead to a correlation between the two distortions in a way that could not occur if the universe were completely isotropic.

Through computer simulations, astrophysicists have found that signs of anisotropy in the universe would leave distinctive signals in the data from the Euclid space telescope. It is designed to measure cosmic structures and determine the nature of dark energy and dark matter.

According to the authors of the study, if anisotropic expansion of the universe is detected, it would call into question the assumption that the universe has no preferred directions. If the universe is expanding at different rates in various directions, scientists will need to revise the standard cosmological model.

Even a slight deviation from isotropy would lead to a complete transformation in our understanding of the universe's evolution and the physics that governs its future.