A team of South Korean researchers has discovered that a mysterious force known as dark energy is changing our universe in a way that could cause it to collapse in a ‘Big Crunch’.
The recent research conducted by Yonsei University disproves the theory of the eternal expansion of the universe. According to team analysis, instead of continuing expansion, the galaxies could be pulled back together by gravity, leading to the end of our universe.
Scientists say the finding could bring them closer to one of the biggest discoveries in astronomy in decades.
The team claims that the universe created after the Big Bang is no longer expanding. In reality, it slows down due to dark energy.
The research, conducted by Yonsei University in Seoul, states that the universe is no longer accelerating. In fact, it may already be slowing down.
Professor Young-Wook Lee, the lead researcher, said: “Our research shows that the Universe has already entered a phase of slowed expansion in the current era and that dark energy is evolving much faster over time than previously thought.”
“If these results are confirmed, it would represent a major paradigm shift in cosmology since the discovery of dark energy 27 years ago,” Lee added.
What is dark energy?
Previously it was believed that the acceleration of the universe should slow down gradually, driven by gravity.
However, in 1998 astronomers found evidence of dark energy, a force responsible for accelerating the expansion of our universe.
According to some theories, this ever-expanding universe could scatter stars to greater distances so that nothing would be visible in the night sky.
Some believe the force could tear atoms apart in a ‘Big Rip’.
In March, results from a telescope in the Arizona desert, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (Desi), shed light on the changing acceleration of galaxies over time.
Professor Ofer Lahav from University College London, who is part of the Desi project, said: “As this changing dark energy goes up and down, we need yet another new mechanism. And this could turn the whole of physics upside down.”
The fate of the universe will change,” Prof. Lee told BBC News. “If the dark energy is not constant and becomes weakened, it will change the entire paradigm of modern cosmology.”
In the case of dark energy weakening, Big Crunch is a real possibility.
Senior astronomers such as Professor George Efstathiou of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge have contradicted Professor Lee’s theory.
