{"id":19498,"date":"2025-04-14T15:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19498\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T15:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:18:08","slug":"a-physicist-says-singularities-not-dark-energy-may-actually-be-why-the-universe-is-expanding-faster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19498\/","title":{"rendered":"A Physicist Says Singularities\u2014Not Dark Energy\u2014May Actually Be Why the Universe Is Expanding Faster"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Although some compelling evidence exists to support the idea that a repulsive force similar to dark energy exists, it has yet to be directly observed or measured.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">To circumvent this uncomfortable missing piece of the cosmological puzzle, physicists have developed alternative theories explaining the acceleration of universal expansion that don\u2019t rely on dark energy.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A new theory, posited by a physicist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, suggests that multiple singularities blinking in and out of existence could provide the energy and matter seen in decades of observations.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In 1998, two independent projects\u2014the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z Supernova Search Team\u2014confirmed that the expansion of the universe was accelerating. But there was a problem: our current understanding of physics couldn\u2019t explain this phenomenon. Scientists hypothesized that there must be some unknown \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/a42941836\/scientists-find-source-of-dark-energy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:dark energy;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">dark energy<\/a>\u201d in the universe that propels the universe ever outward, but as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nnWrUBqiGBc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack states;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack states<\/a>: \u201cWe can\u2019t see it, we don\u2019t know what it is, and we\u2019re not even sure how it can exist at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In the decades following this discovery, independent pieces of evidence have supported the idea, but this elusive form of energy\u2014estimated to make up 70 percent of the universe\u2014has still never been directly observed or measured. Because science abhors an epistemological vacuum, alternative theories of this universal acceleration have emerged in an attempt to circumvent this dark energy conundrum with names like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a44776417\/study-contradicts-newton-einstein-theory-gravity\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Modified Newtonian Dynamics (or MOND);elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Modified Newtonian Dynamics (or MOND)<\/a> and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a63332781\/timescape-cosmology-dark-matter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:timescape cosmology;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">timescape cosmology<\/a>,\u201d the latter of which essentially attributes dark energy to a misunderstanding of kinetic energy expansion at universal scales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Now, Richard Lieu, a physicist from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, has a new approach to explaining the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a64285828\/hawking-radiation-black-holes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:universe;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">universe<\/a> that has no need for dark energy\u2014or even the Big Bang. The results of the study were published in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6382\/adbed1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Classical and Quantum Gravity;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Classical and Quantum Gravity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lieu isn\u2019t a stranger to out-of-the-box cosmological thinking, grabbing headlines just last year for intimating that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a61437574\/gravity-can-exist-without-mass\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:gravity can exist without mass;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">gravity can exist without mass<\/a> (though, the idea relied on negative mass, which is as hypothetical as dark energy). This new study builds a cosmological model around the central idea being that universal acceleration is caused by multiple singularities blinking in and out of existence. And as Lieu notes, this concept doesn\u2019t rely on negative mass or negative density to work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe new model can account for both structure formation and stability, and the key observational properties of the expansion of the universe at large, by enlisting density singularities in time that uniformly affect all space to replace conventional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a27560790\/what-is-dark-matter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:dark matter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">dark matter<\/a> and dark energy,\u201d Lieu <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-04-dark-energy-nature-universe.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:said in a press statement;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">said in a press statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">These \u201ctransient temporal singularities,\u201d as Lieu calls them, create step-like bursts that periodically flood the universe with matter and energy. The kicker is that because they happen so quickly, they\u2019re nearly impossible to observe before they disappear entirely. Lieu isn\u2019t the first to propose the idea that the universe creates energy over time\u2014from the 40s to and 60s, a hypothesis known as the \u201csteady-state\u201d theory was the main rival of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a60899916\/big-bang-theory-missing-piece\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:the Big Bang theory;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">the Big Bang theory<\/a>. Lieu claims his theory fixes one of steady-state theory\u2019s biggest shortfalls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201c[The steady-state] hypothesis violates the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/energy\/a43307630\/laws-of-thermodynamics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:law of mass-energy conservation;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">law of mass-energy conservation<\/a>,\u201d Lieu said in a press statement. \u201cIn the current theory, the conjecture is for matter and energy to appear and disappear in sudden bursts and, interestingly enough, there is no violation of conservation laws [\u2026]. The origin of these temporal singularities is unknown\u2014safe to say that the same is true of the moment of the Big Bang itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Like every other alternative theory that forgoes dark energy, this model has no empirical data to back up its claims. Thankfully, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (which launches in 2027) is purpose-built to explore the cosmos for evidence of dark energy. For now, cosmologists postulate different methods for explaining the observational acceleration of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a44302811\/expansion-of-universe-mirage\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:universal expansion;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">universal expansion<\/a>. But it will require cold, hard data to prove whether dark energy\u2014or some other alternative, like multiple singularities\u2014is the long-sought-after energy force behind the unexplainable. <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong>You Might Also Like<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although some compelling evidence exists to support the idea that a repulsive force similar to dark energy exists,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3845],"tags":[12784,6769,12781,74,6770,70,12782,16,15,12783],"class_list":{"0":"post-19498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-alternative-theories","9":"tag-dark-energy","10":"tag-expansion-of-the-universe","11":"tag-physics","12":"tag-richard-lieu","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-singularities","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-universal-expansion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}