Results of the past year: Dark energy has become even more confusing
New measurements of light from distant exploding stars should have told more about the dark energy that pushes objects in space from each other. Instead, the fate of the universe has become even more confusing.
Dark energy was first talked about in 1998, when scientists discovered that light from distant supernovae was weaker than expected. This meant that the universe was expanding at an ever-increasing pace. To explain this acceleration, scientists have suggested the existence of dark energy, which pushes space. Most physicists suspected that dark energy is a form of vacuum energy, known as the "cosmological constant", because its power never changes. If so, then the number called w, which is equal to the ratio of the force that pushes space, to the density of dark energy, should be equal to -1.
But this year, scientists, using a new powerful telescope in Hawaii, have come to a different value for w. By combining supernova data with previously obtained results from other studies, the researchers calculated that w should be -1.186.
This value, if confirmed, will force cosmologists to develop more complex theories in which the power of dark energy increases over time. If so, the universe could ultimately be broken according to the Big Break theory.
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However, until now no one refuses the cosmological constant. Researchers say that they and other groups should first of all try to find the sources of measurement error - starting with telescopes, which they use to study distant parts of the Universe. Even minor discrepancies in how telescopes collect starlight that has passed billions of light years can contribute a lot to the measurement error.
In two years, when cosmologists will more accurately calibrate their instruments and analyze more data, they will be able to say if it is time to reconsider the cosmological constant. At present, Armin Rest, the head of the research team at the Baltimore Space Telescope Research Institute, said, “I suspect that w is -1”.
Dark energy was first talked about in 1998, when scientists discovered that light from distant supernovae was weaker than expected. This meant that the universe was expanding at an ever-increasing pace. To explain this acceleration, scientists have suggested the existence of dark energy, which pushes space. Most physicists suspected that dark energy is a form of vacuum energy, known as the "cosmological constant", because its power never changes. If so, then the number called w, which is equal to the ratio of the force that pushes space, to the density of dark energy, should be equal to -1.
But this year, scientists, using a new powerful telescope in Hawaii, have come to a different value for w. By combining supernova data with previously obtained results from other studies, the researchers calculated that w should be -1.186.
This value, if confirmed, will force cosmologists to develop more complex theories in which the power of dark energy increases over time. If so, the universe could ultimately be broken according to the Big Break theory.
')
However, until now no one refuses the cosmological constant. Researchers say that they and other groups should first of all try to find the sources of measurement error - starting with telescopes, which they use to study distant parts of the Universe. Even minor discrepancies in how telescopes collect starlight that has passed billions of light years can contribute a lot to the measurement error.
In two years, when cosmologists will more accurately calibrate their instruments and analyze more data, they will be able to say if it is time to reconsider the cosmological constant. At present, Armin Rest, the head of the research team at the Baltimore Space Telescope Research Institute, said, “I suspect that w is -1”.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/209586/
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