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Saturday Quote: The Universe doesn’t care about your valuable standard model

This slice of digital data maps celestial objects billions of light years away from the Earth (center). Among the objects are nearby bright galaxies (yellow), bright red galaxies (orange), exhaust line galaxies (blue), and quasars (green). The large-scale structure of the universe shows the most dense research area and is shown in the inset image representing less than 0.1% of the total volume of the DESI survey. Credit: Claire Lamman/Desi Collaboration

This week, Alma researchers reported the discovery of oxygen in the most distant known galaxy. Geologists believe that the unusual structure of rocks in the desert regions of Namibia, Oman and Saudi Arabia could be evidence of unknown microorganisms. And it is possible that a group of physicists used the Earth’s rotational energy to generate small charges in electricity. But the biggest story is the second release of data from a space digital survey.

Desi comes for the standard model

A new generation of space research was launched this week at Kit Peak National Astronomical Observatory in Arizona, where data from dark energy spectroscopy was released for the second time.

Astronomers know that the universe has expanded for decades. In the 1990s, the first image of the cosmic microwave background (the echo of the Big Bang) revealed that this expansion was accelerated for unknown reasons. Astronomers call this expansion “dark energy,” leading to “they don’t understand what this energy is.”

New data from the DESI collaboration include improvements to the first data release, indicating tensions arise during observations of the expansion of the universe. When collaboration combined new data with previous observations, they discovered signs that the effects of dark energy on universal expansion could weaken over time.

“Combining all the cosmological data supports the expansion of the universe accelerated at a slightly higher rate around 7 billion years ago,” said Arnaud de Mattia, a French physicist with the team analyzing the data. However, researchers emphasize that they still do not have absolute certainty about this. This means that research efforts have not yet met the “five Sigma” statistical thresholds that physicists use as markers of certainty.

This new theory of “evolving dark energy” influences standard cosmological models. This will require significant changes to incorporate new findings.

Okay, but let’s guess

So let’s say this result was confirmed by the fact that dark energy evolves over time and by the next generation surveys of the future ten years later. Currently, the standard model suggests the expansion to the ultimate heat death of the universe. But now we can consider more exciting and cinematic possibilities for the fate of the universe. As universal expansion acceleration increases over time, the universe can be torn apart by a “big rift.” Alternatively, you could reach the point of maximum expansion in a “big crunch” and collapse inwards.

In the “big lip” scenario, as the acceleration of universal expansion increases towards infinitely within finite time, everything decreases to the scale of atoms and subatomic particles, and space-time itself “tears the Asaunand” (as the best dungeon master places).

As the universe approaches this point, the galaxy is not covered by gravity as matter disperses. Ultimately, the same thing happens with the planetary system. Then there was a military squadron, family, and married couple. The atoms are then ionized when electrons are torn apart. Finally, the nuclei themselves are connected.

In contrast, in “big crunches,” the expansion of the universe is reversed, reconstructing all matter and spacetime towards, or at least, towards, the singularity. If the universe contains sufficiently dense material, gravity stops universal expansion and all matter returns to itself.

This leads to “big bounce,” the third theory suggesting that the universe itself is a cycle of expansion, collapse and re-expansion. At the lowest point of convergence, the general theory of relativity requires the appearance of singularity.

However, physicists theorize that quantum effects become very important at that stage, preventing the formation of singularity and instead bringing about a very energetic and explosive expansion (and the birth of a new universe). This theory is now far from the “five sigma” thresholds that are effectively present in another universe, but it is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing in the theory of the nature of the universe.

The DESI data release is published online.

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Quote: Saturday Quote: Universe doesn’t care about your precious standard model (March 22, 2025) Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2025-03-Saturday-citations-universe-doesnt-precious.html

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