A study confirms that the universe will start contracting very soon – teach me about science

The universe is not always the same. 13.8 billion years ago, when the universe was a dense and hot point, it was smaller than a subatomic particle, but because of a repulsive energy field, the point began to expand.

We know this event as the Big Bang, and currently, it has not stopped, it is happening faster than ever. However, a recent study It explains that the universe, despite its rapid expansion, can go through a phase of contraction. All of this raises questions like: How soon will this change happen? And at what stage will it be detected? The results suggest that this may happen very soon.

Gravitational force is what holds objects together, and when they pull apart, this has been identified as a type of antigravity force, now known as “dark energy”. It cannot be seen or detected directly, although it can be measured by its effect on ordinary matter, so in this case it is related to the expansion of the universe. The surprising fact is that more than 95% of the energy density of the universe is in undetected form, and dark energy accounts for 70%.

The same study explains dark energy as a kind of extreme, which may come to an end. “This paper presents a simple mechanism by which a dynamic form of dark energy (called quintessence) can stop accelerating and transition smoothly from an expansion to a slow contraction phase.” The authors comment study.

Because of the approach, if there really is dark energy as shown in this study, the conclusions about the contraction of the universe put the date “closer”, perhaps within 100 million years.

Time appears to be long, but the minimum time intervals before the end of acceleration and expansion are surprisingly short, from a cosmological point of view, because, compared to geological time scales, the minimum time remaining before the end of expansion approximates the period of life on Earth, and until the end of acceleration. , the Chicxulub asteroid is lower than it has been since the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

With this in mind, another question arises: What happens when the universe contracts? The predicted scenarios are two: the universe shrinks to a point dense enough to reproduce the Big Bang, and another where the universe can be reborn.

As with any approach, it needs to be verified, and if it turns out to be correct, it will represent a real revolution for cosmology, so we will have to wait for some findings to be announced on this subject.