After nearly 13.8 billion years of continuous expansion, the universe could soon be immobilized and then slowly begin to contract, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the new work, three scientists try to model the nature of dark energy – a mysterious force that seems to cause the universe to expand faster and faster – based on previous observations of cosmic expansion.
In the group model, dark energy is not a constant force of nature, but an entity called quintessence, which can decompose over time.
Researchers have found that although the expansion of the universe has been accelerating for billions of years, the repulsive force of dark energy can be attenuated.
According to their model, the acceleration of the universe could stop soon and specifically within the next 65 million years.
Within 100 million years the universe could stop expanding completely, and then enter an era of slow contraction that would end billions of years from now, with the death – or perhaps rebirth – of time and space.
All of this could happen “extremely” quickly, study co-author Paul Steinhardt, director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, told Live Science.
“Going back in time, 65 million years ago, the asteroid Chicxulub hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs,” explained Steinhardt, explaining that on a cosmic scale, 65 million years is extremely short.
In their study, Steinhardt and his colleagues predicted how the properties of quintessence could change over the next billions of years. To achieve this, the team created a natural model of quintessence, which showed its repulsive and attractive force over time, to match previous observations of the expansion of the universe. Once the team model was able to reliably reproduce the history of the expansion of the universe, they extended their predictions to the future.
According to the group, the repulsive force of dark energy could be in the midst of a rapid decline that may have begun billions of years ago. However, it will take several billion years of slow contraction to halve the universe.
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