A team of South Korean researchers have found that a mysterious force known as dark energy is changing our Universe in a way that could collapse it in a “Big Crunch.”
The recent research study conducted by Yonsei University, counters the theory of Universe eternal expansion. As per team analysis, instead of continuous expansion, the galaxies could be pulled back together by gravity, leading to the end of our Universe.
As per scientists, the finding could lead them closer to one of the biggest discoveries in astronomy for decades.
The team argues that the Universe which came into existence after the Big Bang is no longer expanding. In reality, it is slowing down due to dark energy.
The research, conducted by Yonsei University, Seoul, argues that the Universe is no longer accelerating. In fact, it may already be slowing down.
Professor Young-Wook Lee, the lead researcher said, “Our study shows that the Universe has already entered a phase of decelerated expansion at the present epoch and that dark energy evolves with time much more rapidly than previously thought.”
“If these results are confirmed, it would mark a major paradigm shift in cosmology since the discovery of dark energy 27 years ago,” Lee added.
What is dark energy?
Earlier it was believed that the Universe’s acceleration should gradually slow down, driven by gravity.
However, astronomers found evidence for dark energy in 1998, a force responsible for precipitating the expansion of our Universe.
As per some theories, this ever-expanding Universe could spread stars to a greater distance that nothing would be visible in the night sky.
Some believe that the force might tear atoms apart in a “Big Rip.”
In March, the results from a telescope in the Arizona desert called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (Desi) shed light on the changing acceleration of galaxies over time.
Prof Ofer Lahav of University College London, who is part of the Desi project, said, “Now with this changing dark energy going up and then down, again, we need a new mechanism. And this could be a shake up for the whole of physics.”
The fate of the Universe will change,” Prof Lee tells BBC News, “If dark energy is not constant and it’s getting weakened, this will change the whole paradigm of modern cosmology.”
In the case of weakening of dark energy, Big Crunch is a real possibility.
Senior astronomers such as Professor George Efstathiou of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University have countered Professor Lee’s theory.
