A new article predicted that the expected lifespan of the universe is considerably shorter than what is once thought – and that the cosmos will begin to die in just 10 billion years.
It is only a possible theory, however, and no one really knows When the universe ends.
There are two main theories on how the universe can die: the theory of “big frost”, which suggests that the cosmos will continue to develop until all the stars have lost their energy and cooled absolute zero; And the theory of “big crunch”, which suggests that the expansion of the universe is only temporary and that after a certain point, it will begin to contract and finally collapse in a Big Bang. Scientists find it difficult to agree on what is more likely because recent observations have revealed uncertainties on the speed at which the universe develops – nicknamed a cosmological crisis.
One way to solve this crisis is to discover the true value of cosmological constantA theoretical “magic number” that can be used to calculate cosmic expansion. But to do this, we must first discover the elusive identity of dark energy – THE mysterious strength or substance This seems to lead to the expansion of the universe.
To this end, in a new paper downloaded on June 30 on the preparation server arxiv which has not yet been evaluated by peers, the researchers have examined the recent results of the Dark Energy Survey (des) and the Spectroscopic Specroscopic Instrument (Desi), which suggests that Dark energy is made up of axions.
Axes are hypothetical ultra-lighter particles that rarely interact with matter. If they exist, this means that the cosmological constant has a negative value, which will lead to a large crunch, supported the researchers. And their calculations indicate that this would happen earlier than expected.
In relation: 10 wild theories on the universe
Using their new model for Big Crunch, researchers believe that the total lifespan of the universe is around 33 billion years. Since the universe is currently considered to be About 13.8 billion yearsThis means that the cosmos has already ended more than a third of its total life.
If the new calendar is correct, the universe will stop extending in about 10 billion years and will start to contract quickly much faster than the other models had predicted it before, the Live Science sister site Space.com recently reported. Other models suggest that Big Crunch may not occur for hundreds of billions of years.
The true identity of black energy remains a mystery, which means that the new model is purely theoretical.
Other possible deadlines
This is not the first study to suggest that Big Crunch could start to occur earlier than expected. In 2022, the researchers proposed that the universe could Stop extending as little as 100 million years.
But if the universe ends rather with a big frost, which was the scenario favored by Albert EinsteinSo his death will probably come much later.
Recent research has suggested that the sooner the big frost could happen In about 1 quinvigintillion (1 followed by 78 zeros) or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 000,000
Other theories suggest that cosmic expansion can be able to suddenly reversing several timesThis further complicates potential deadlines for one or the other scenario. Stephen Hawking’s work on black holes also suggested that Everything in the universe could evaporate Before one or the other scenario takes place.
Some experts have also suggested that our universe could be one of the many reincarnations in a Endless cycle of Big Bangs, Or big rebounds. These would essentially make the immortal cosmos. Others proposed that the universe is a simulation Or the hologram, which raises the question of whether it is even “real” at all.
The only thing on which most researchers can get along is that it could take very, a very long time to find out who is right.
