Universe faces unpredictable future as dark energy suddenly weakens

The fate of the universe remains an unanswered question, after new data showed that the dark energy that fuels the expansion of the universe has been weakening over the past 4 or 5 billion years.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, USA

Before 1998, scientists believed that the expansion of the universe following the Big Bang event would slow down due to the effects of gravity.

However, in 1998, two independent research groups from the US and Australia, while studying supernovae, discovered that the expansion of the universe was actually accelerating, not slowing down as previously thought.

From the above discovery, astronomers believe that there must be a mysterious force behind the above phenomenon, and named it "dark energy".

If nothing changes, researchers predict that billions or trillions of years from now the universe could become a cold, dark, lifeless space.

However, The Washington Post on March 19 cited new data released by scientists participating in the DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) survey on the same day, showing that the expansion trend of the universe has actually been weakening over the past 4 to 5 billion years.

According to the DESI team's analysis, dark energy may not be a "cosmological constant" as long thought, but instead evolves over time.

If the "evolving dark energy" hypothesis holds up in further research, the future of the universe will be something truly unpredictable.

The universe may have stopped expanding because dark energy is weakening.

Perhaps the universe will move towards a mature and stable stage, rather than being hasty and unchangeable.

Or perhaps the expansion will accelerate again, as if under the influence of some other mysterious force.

Or maybe things will reverse, and the universe will collapse.

"The results once again raise the possibility that the universe may not continue to expand forever. One of the possibilities according to current analysis is that the universe may stop expanding and contract," The Washington Post quoted cosmologist Mustapha Ishak of the University of Texas (USA), co-chair of the data analysis team.

“We cannot predict how dark energy will behave in the future,” said Willem Elbers, a cosmologist at Durham University in the UK and co-chair of the DESI team.

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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/vu-tru-doi-mat-tuong-lai-kho-doan-vi-nang-luong-toi-bat-ngo-suy-yeu-185250320110312326.htm