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New hints from one of the most extensive surveys of the cosmos indicate that mysterious dark energy can develop in a way that could change the way the astronomers understand the universe.
Dark energy is a term to use the scientist to describe an energy or strength that accelerates the expansion of the universe. However, 70% of the energy in the cosmos still have no idea what dark energy is, said Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of Texas in Dallas.
ISHAK-BOUSHAKI is a Cochair of a working group for the collaboration of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, known as DESI. The instrument, which is now questioned in its fourth year of the measurement of heaven, can observe the light of 5,000 galaxies at the same time. When the project ends next year, it measured the light of around 50 million galaxies.
The cooperation, which includes more than 900 researchers, shared the latest data publication from the first three years of the observations of Dei on March 19. Their results include the measurements of almost 15 million galaxies and quasars, some of the brightest objects in the universe. ISHAK-BOUSHAK has directed the analysis of the latest DESI data publications, which indicates that dark energy-length describes as a “cosmological constant”, since astronomers believe that they are unchangeable and can behave unexpectedly and even weaken over time.
“The discovery of the dark energy almost 30 years ago was the biggest surprise of my scientific life,” said David Weinberg, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University, who contributed to DESI analysis. “These new measurements provide the strongest evidence that dark energy develops, which represents a further breathtaking change of our understanding for the functioning of the universe.”
The results bring the astronomers a further step to the exposing of the mysterious nature of dark energy, which may mean that the standard model for the way the universe works could also require an update, scientists say.
A deep look at the universe
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is located on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter telescope of the National Science Foundation at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. The 5,000 fiber-optical “eyes” and extensive surveillance skills of the instrument enable scientists to build one of the largest 3D cards in the universe and to pursue how dark energy has influenced and shaped the cosmos in the past 11 billion years.
The Mayall 4-meter telescope is located above the horizon in Arizona. – Marilyn Sargent/The Regents of the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
It takes time for the light of heavenly objects such as galaxies to travel to earth, which means that Desi can effectively recognize how the cosmos was at different times, from billions from years to the present day.
“Desi is different from any other machine in relation to its ability to observe independent objects at the same time,” said John Moustakas, professor of physics at Siena College and Colead of the Data Release.
The latest results include data on more than double cosmic objects that were examined and presented less than a year ago. These 2024 revelations initially indicated how the dark energy can develop.
“We are in the business that the universe lets us tell us how it works, and maybe the universe tells us that it is more complicated when we thought it was intended,” said Andrei Cucu, a postdoctoral researcher from the US Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Desi and Cochair from Desis Lyman-Alta working group. “It is interesting and gives us more confidence to see that many different evidence shows in the same direction.”
Assembly cosmic evidence
Desi can measure what scientists call the baryon acoustic vibration (BAO) – essentially, such as events that occurred early in the universe, patterns in the way in which matter is distributed over the cosmos. Astronomers look at the BAO scale with matter separations of around 480 million light years as standard rulers.
“This separation scale is like a really gigantic ruler in the room with which we can measure distances, and we use the combination of these distances and red shifts (speed objects move away from us) to measure the expansion of the universe,” said Paul Martini, coordinator of analysis and professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
The measurement of Dark Energy’s influence on the history of the universe shows how dominant a force was.
The researchers noticed when they combined these observations with other light measurements in the entire universe, such as: B. exploding stars, gravity with distant galaxies and the light -binding bridging from the dawn of the universe, called the cosmic microwave background, show that the effects of the dark energy could become weakening over time.
“If this continues, dark energy will not be the dominant force in the universe,” said Ishak-Boushak in an email. “Therefore, the expansion of the universe will stop accelerating and constant or even breaking up and breaking in some models. Of course, these future futures are very remote and lasted billions and billions of years. I have worked on the question of cosmic acceleration for 25 years.
The sparkling band of the Milky Way can be seen on the left of the telescope. – KPNO/Noirlab/NSF/Aura/RT Spark
Solve a permanent puzzle
There is not yet enough evidence to explain a groundbreaking discovery that definitely says that the dark energy develops and weakens, but this could change within just a few years, said Ishak-Boushak.
“My first big question is whether we will continue to see evidence that we develop dark energy when our measurements are getting better,” said Martini. “If we get to the point where the evidence is overwhelming, my next questions will be: How does dark energy develop? And what are the most likely physical explanations?”
The new data publication could also help astrophysics better understand how galaxies and black holes develop and the nature of dark matter. Although dark matter has never been found, it is assumed that 85% of the total matter in the universe is identified.
Scientists who are involved with the cooperation strive to improve their measurements with DESI.
“Whatever is the nature of dark energy, it will influence the future of our universe,” said Michael Levi, director of Desi and scientist of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “It is quite remarkable that we can look at the sky with our telescopes and try to answer one of the greatest questions that humanity has ever asked.”
A new experiment called Spec-S5 or a spectroscopic experiment in stage 5 could measure more than 10 times as many galaxies as Desi to examine both dark energy and dark matter, said Martini.
“Spec-S5 would use telescopes both in the northern and in the southern hemisphere to map galaxies throughout the sky,” said Martini. “We are also happy to see how the (Vera) Rubin telescope Supernovae will examine and provide a new, uniform data set to investigate the expansion history of the (universe).”
Other space observatories, such as the Euclid World Space Telescopic and the Roman World Cup telescope from Nancy Grace, which are to start in 2027, will also make more important measurements of Dark matter and dark energy in the coming years that could help fill the gaps, said Jason Rhodes, an observation cosmologist at NASA laboratory drive in Pasadena, California. Rhodes, which is not involved in Desi, is the US head of science for the Euclid and Principal Investigator for the Euclid Dark Energy Science Team.
Rhodes, which fascinating the results, said the data showed a slight but persistent voltage between the measurements from the early days of the universe and those from the later universe.
“(This means) that our simple model of dark energy is not entirely allowed to develop into the deceased universe that we observe,” said Rhodes. “Desi results (and some other recent results) seem to indicate that a more complex model of dark energy is preferred. This is really exciting, since it may mean that new, unknown physics regulates the development of the universe. Desi has given us tempting results that could indicate that a new model of cosmology is necessary.”
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