Dark Energy Discovery Could Undermine Our Entire Model of Cosmological History
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Summary
Every dot in this image, which maps the visible universe, is a galaxy.
The discovery that dark energy may not be constant calls our entire model of the universe into question.
The Lambda-CDM model is central to our current best guess as to the nature of the universe.
If it turns out disappointing, we would need to construct a new cosmological model, which would be a very challenging task.
The nature of dark matter and dark energy could be discovered, or, we could make no headway, leading us to rethink the entire study of cosmology itself.
Our current dominant view of the history of the universe is that it is in an accelerating expansion phase, caused by dark energy, which is thought to be a cosmological constant, Λ.
This work is from the Dark Energy Spectroscopy Instrument, DESI, the largest three-dimensional mapping of the universe so far.
By Bernard J.T. Jones, Licia Verde, Vicent J. Martínez, and Virginia L. Trimble
