Some researchers assert that dark energy does not exist – potentially shedding light on one of the cosmos’s greatest enigmas.
For over a century, researchers believed that the universe was expanding uniformly in all directions. To validate this hypothesis, astronomers have relied on the notion of dark energy.
Dark energy is not visible and has never been conclusively verified. Nevertheless, scientists propose its existence due to its apparent influence on the universe and its necessity in resolving several fundamental issues concerning our comprehension of the cosmos.
Currently, however, academics from the University of Canterbury contend that the universe is not truly expanding uniformly in every direction. Rather, it is expanding in a “lumpier” manner, in a more diverse array of directions.
This, in turn, might eliminate the requirement for dark energy. Instead, it bolsters an alternative model of cosmic expansion, positing that the peculiar effects observed in the way light stretches stem not from the universe’s expansion but from our perspective on time and space.
Researchers suggest that the confusion could arise from the fact that gravity alters the flow of time. For instance, clocks would tick at a faster rate in empty space compared to one situated in a bustling galaxy.
Thus, a clock within the Milky Way would be ticking roughly 35 percent slower than one located in a vast cosmic void. Those voids would witness billions of years that wouldn’t correspond in our galaxy – allowing them more time to expand and dominate the universe.
“Our results indicate that we do not require dark energy to explain why the Universe seems to expand at an accelerating rate,” stated David Wiltshire from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, who spearheaded the research.
“Dark energy is a misinterpretation of fluctuations in the kinetic energy of expansion, which is not uniform in a Universe as uneven as the one we inhabit.
“This research offers persuasive evidence that might address some of the significant inquiries regarding the anomalies in our expanding universe.
“With new data, the most significant enigma of the Universe could be resolved by the end of the decade.”
This research is documented in a recent paper, ‘Supernovae evidence for foundational change to cosmological models’, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters.