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Under this scenario, dark energy would ultimately tear apart all gravitationally bound structures, including galaxies and solar systems, and eventually overcome the electrical and nuclear forces to tear apart atoms themselves, ending the universe in a "Big Rip". On the other hand, dark energy might dissipate with time or even become attractive.
There’s a lot riding on the answer. Because dark energy is the biggest component of the universe, its behavior determines the universe’s fate, explained David Spergel, an astrophysicist and president of the Simons Foundation. If dark energy is constant, the universe will continue to expand, forever getting colder and emptier.
“Dark energy is a misidentification of variations in the kinetic energy of expansion, which is not uniform in a Universe as lumpy as the one we actually live in.
The measured dark energy density is Ω Λ ≈ 0.690; the observed ordinary (baryonic) matter energy density is Ω b ≈ 0.0482 and the energy density of radiation is negligible. This leaves a missing Ω dm ≈ 0.258 which nonetheless behaves like matter (see technical definition section above) – dark matter.
Since the 1990s, studies have shown that, assuming the cosmological principle, around 68% of the mass–energy density of the universe can be attributed to dark energy. [6] [7] [8] The cosmological constant Λ is the simplest possible explanation for dark energy, and is used in the standard model of cosmology known as the ΛCDM model.
The physical nature of dark energy is at present unknown," Huterer said. The new findings appear to corroborate the current standard model of cosmology that includes the theory of general relativity.
With dark energy, the expansion rate of the universe initially slows down, due to the effect of gravity, but eventually increases. The ultimate fate of the universe is the same as that of an open universe in the sense that space will continue expanding forever. A flat universe can have zero total energy. [16]
Dark energy is one of the greatest mysteries in science today. One of the simplest explanations is that it is a “cosmological constant” – a result of the energy of empty space itself – an ...