For years, scientists have used the enigmatic concept of dark energy to explain how the universe expands. But new research could upend decades of cosmological belief with an astonishing claim: dark energy does not exist. The enigmatic idea of dark energy has been used to explain the expansion of the universe for years. But new research may upend decades-old cosmological beliefs with a shocking claim made by scientists: Dark Energy doesn’t actually exist. According to an article published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the quest to better understand the concept could require a complete change of direction. Researchers from New Zealand’s University of Canterbury argue in the study that the current cosmological framework used to explain the structure of the Universe should be abandoned to allow for an alternative model which discredits the dark energy, and describes the world as having “lumpy” a structure.
Dark Energy Origins
The conventional explanation of the growth of the universe revolves around dark energy, which is believed to be a force imperceptible that expands the space and accounts for nearly 70% of the entire universe. Scientists theorized it interacts dark matter, a hypothetical type of matter which has the opposite affect of pulling galaxies apart through its gravity. In 1998, scientists claimed the expansion of universe was increasing based on the brightness of Type Ia Supernovae within distant galaxies. They proposed dark energy to explain this, saying that it would counteract gravity and speed up expansion. Scientists’ knowledge of the universe has largely revolved since then around the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Model (lambda CDM). “Cold” means the matter is slowly moving, building up the structure of the galaxies. Dark Matter vs. Dark Energy: Read more about it.
Rethinking Universe Expansion.
Evidence from the Cosmic microwave background (also known as the Big Bang’s afterglow) indicates that the current expansion does not match the growth of the early Universe. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic instrument (DESI), operated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has also revealed that models where dark energy is constant and does not change over time do not match the lambda CDM model. Researchers of the study claim that Hubble tensions and DESI results are hard to reconcile in models based on Friedmann’s formula, which assumes uniform expansion.
However, the new study does not accept this idea. The “timescape model” frames the structure of the universe and its expansion in an irregular manner.
What is the timescape model?
According to the timescape model, dark energy cannot be the cause of the expansion of the universe. The timescape model corrects the error by taking into account the differences in time between voids and dense matter areas.
According to the model, time is much slower when it’s in dense matter (like in our Milky Way Galaxy). The expansion of the universe is increased as more time passes in the voids. According to researchers, dark energy isn’t needed to explain how the universe expands.