The universe is not static. This was confirmed by the research of astronomer Edwin Hubble back in 1929, that is, almost 90 years ago. Observations on the movement of galaxies led him to this idea. Another discovery of astrophysicists at the end of the twentieth century was the calculation of the expansion of the universe with acceleration.
What is called the expansion of the universe
Some are surprised to hear what scientists call the expansion of the universe. Most of this name is associated with the economy, and with negative expectations.
Inflation is a process of expansion of the Universe immediately after its appearance, and with a sharp acceleration. Translated from English, "inflation" - "pump", "inflate."
New doubts about the existence of dark energy as a factor in the theory of inflation in the universe are used by opponents of expansion theory.
Then scientists proposed a map of black holes. The initial data differ from those that were obtained at a later stage:
- Sixty thousand black holes with a distance between the farthest more than eleven million light-years are four years old.
- One hundred eighty thousand black hole galaxies with a distance of thirteen million light years. Data obtained by scientists, including Russian nuclear physicists, at the beginning of 2017.
This information, astrophysicists say, does not contradict the classical model of the Universe.
The speed of expansion of the universe - a task for cosmologists
Expansion speed is indeed a challenge for cosmologists and astronomers. True, cosmologists no longer argue that the expansion rate of the Universe does not have a constant parameter, the discrepancies moved to another plane - when the expansion began to accelerate. Data on wandering in the spectrum of very distant supernovae of the first type of galaxies prove that expansion is not a sudden process.
Scientists believe that the first five billion years the universe narrowed.
The first consequences of the Big Bang first provoked a powerful expansion, and then compression began. But dark energy still influenced the growth of the universe. And with acceleration.
American scientists began to create a map of the dimensions of the universe for different eras to find out when acceleration began. Observing supernova explosions, as well as the direction of concentration of dark matter in ancient galaxies, cosmologists noticed features of acceleration.
Why is the Universe “accelerating”
Initially, it was assumed that in the compiled map of the dimensions of the Universe , the acceleration values were not linear, but turned into a sinusoid. She was called the "wave of the universe."
The wave of the universe suggests that the acceleration did not go at a constant speed: it either slowed down or accelerated. And several times. Scientists believe that there were seven such processes in 13.81 billion years after the Big Bang.
However, cosmologists cannot yet answer the question of what acceleration-deceleration depends on. Assumptions come down to the idea that the energy field from which the dark energy originates is subordinate to the wave of the Universe. And, moving from one position to another, the Universe either expands acceleration, or slows it down.
Despite the persuasiveness of the arguments, they still remain a theory. Astrophysicists hope that information from the Planck orbiting telescope will confirm the existence of a wave of the universe.
When did you find the dark energy
They first talked about her in the nineties due to supernova explosions. The nature of dark energy is unknown. Although even Albert Einstein identified the cosmic constant in his theory of relativity.
In 1916, a hundred years ago, the Universe was still considered unchanged. But the force of gravity intervened: the cosmic masses would invariably collide from each other if the Universe were motionless. Einstein announces gravity due to cosmic repulsive force.
Georges Lemetre will substantiate this through physics. Vacuum contains energy. Due to its vibrations leading to the appearance of particles and their further destruction, the energy acquires a repulsive force.
When Hubble proved the expansion of the universe, Einstein called cosmological constant bullshit.
Dark energy effect
The universe is moving apart at a constant speed. In 1998, the world presented the data of the analysis of supernova explosions of the first type. It has been proven that the universe is growing faster.
This is due to an unknown substance, it was called "dark energy." It turns out that it occupies almost 70% of the space of the universe. The essence, properties and nature of dark energy have not been studied, but its scientists are trying to find out if it was in other galaxies.
In 2016, the exact expansion rate for the near future was calculated, but a mismatch appeared: the Universe is expanding at a faster rate than astrophysicists had previously suggested. Among scholars, controversy erupted over the existence of dark energy and its influence on the speed of expansion of the limits of the universe.
Universe Expands Without Dark Energy
The theory of independence of the process of expansion of the Universe from dark energy was put forward by scientists in early 2017. They explain the expansion by a change in the structure of the Universe.
Scientists from Budapest and Hawaiian universities have come to the conclusion that the mismatch between the calculations and the real expansion rate is associated with a change in the properties of space. No one took into account what happens to the model of the Universe as it expands.
Doubting the existence of dark energy, scientists explain: the largest concentrates of matter in the Universe affect its expansion. In this case, the rest of the content is distributed evenly. However, the fact remains unaccounted for.
To demonstrate the validity of their assumptions, scientists have proposed a model of a mini-universe. They presented it in the form of a set of bubbles and began to calculate the growth parameters of each bubble with its own speed, depending on its mass.
Such a simulation of the universe showed scientists that it can change without taking into account energy. And if you “mix” the dark energy, the model will not change, scientists say.
In general, the debate is still ongoing. Proponents of dark energy say that it affects the expansion of the boundaries of the universe, opponents stand their ground, arguing that the concentration of matter is important.
Expansion speed of the universe now
Scientists are convinced that the Universe began to grow after the Big Bang. Then, almost fourteen billion years ago, it turned out that the speed of expansion of the Universe is greater than the speed of light. And she continues to grow.
The book “The Shortest History of Time” by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinov notes that the speed of expansion of the boundaries of the Universe cannot exceed 10% per billion years.
To determine what the rate of expansion of the universe is, in the summer of 2016, Nobel Prize winner Adam Riess calculated the distance to pulsating Cepheids in galaxies close to each other. These data allowed us to calculate the speed. It turned out that galaxies at a distance of at least three million light-years can move away at a speed of almost 73 km / s.
The result was amazing: orbiting telescopes, the same Planck, were talking about 69 km / s. Why is such a difference recorded, scientists are not able to give an answer: they do not know anything about the origin of dark matter, on which the theory of the expansion of the Universe is based.
Dark radiation
Another factor in the "acceleration" of the universe was discovered by astronomers using the Hubble. Dark radiation is thought to have appeared at the very beginning of the formation of the universe. Then there was more energy in it, and not matter.
Dark radiation "helped" the dark energy to expand the boundaries of the universe. The discrepancies in determining the speed of acceleration were due to the unknownness of this radiation, scientists say.
Hubble’s future work should make the observations more accurate.
Mysterious energy can destroy the universe
Scientists have been considering such a scenario for several decades, data from the Planck Space Observatory say that this is far from just speculation. They were published in 2013.
"Planck" measured the "echo" of the Big Bang, which appeared at the age of the Universe about 380 thousand years, the temperature was 2,700 degrees. Moreover, the temperature changed. "Planck" also defined the "composition" of the Universe:
- almost 5% - stars, cosmic dust, cosmic gas, galaxies;
- almost 27% is the mass of dark matter;
- about 70% is dark energy.
Physicist Robert Caldwell suggested that dark energy has power that can grow. And this energy will separate space-time. The galaxy will move away in the next twenty to fifty billion years, the scientist believes. This process will occur with an increasing expansion of the boundaries of the Universe. This will tear the Milky Way from the star, and it will also decay.
Space measured out about sixty million years. The sun will become a dwarf dying star, and planets will separate from it. After the Earth explodes. In the next thirty minutes, space will tear apart atoms. The final will be the destruction of the space-time structure.
Where the Milky Way "flies"
Jerusalem astronomers are convinced that the Milky Way has gained maximum speed, which is higher than the speed of expansion of the universe. Scientists explain this by the desire of the Milky Way to the "Great Attractor", considered the largest cluster of galaxies. So the Milky Way leaves the cosmic desert.
Scientists use different methods for measuring the expansion rate of the Universe, therefore there is no single result of this parameter.