We have been assuming for decades that the expansion of the universe is accelerated by dark energy. A study says it was all a statistical mirage

Astronomers have spent decades trying to unravel the mysteries of subject and the dark energy. However, now a team of scientists from the University of Oxford has launched the most controversial of solutions: There is nothing to look for, because dark energy does not exist. And they have been so hot. Logically, the reactions have not been long in coming. Some researchers believe that it is an interesting solution that is worth continuing to investigate. Others, however, consider that they do not have enough evidence to demolish an entire cosmological model. After all, there are many more signs of the existence of dark energy than those they have been in charge of denying.

Supernovas too weak. Dark matter and energy emerged as a solution to the problem of the expansion of the Universe. This is a phenomenon by which galaxies are increasingly distant from each other. But not because they are moving from their place, but because the space between them is widening. Something like that happens with a balloon on which we paint a series of dots. The more the balloon is inflated, the further apart the dots become. Today we don’t just know that the Universe is expanding. We also understand that it is an accelerated expansion, since the speed at which it expands is faster if we measure nearby galaxies than if we focus on points in the Universe closer to the Big Bang.

All of this is measured like any speed. Distance between time. The distances are calculated using the Ia supernovae as a reference, since they have a very characteristic brightness that acts as a lighthouse and serves to map the Universe. The authors of the just-published study also used supernovae to make their own calculations, but they focused on one of the most current catalogs available. about them. There, they saw that younger supernovae have a dimmer glow, which could have led scientists to overestimate their distance, giving rise to the misconception that the universe is expanding rapidly.

Dark energy as a solution. In fact, according to the Theory of General Relativitywhat is expected it would be that the expansion of the Universe slowed downsince galaxies experience the gravitational pull of their own neighbors and this should act as a brake. It would be something like what happens with the speed of a ball that is thrown upward. Little by little the Earth’s gravity slows it down until it reaches a point where it stops and falls. However, that doesn’t happen. There must be something reversing this effect and that is where dark energy comes into play, since would exert negative pressure which prevents collapse due to this gravitational pull and, in the process, increasingly accelerates the expansion. Now, where does that dark energy come from? Nobody knows, just as nobody has found solid evidence for the existence of dark matter.

Supernovas help measure distances in space

It’s not the first time. In fact, this team of scientists from the University of Oxford has already gone against the dark energy hypothesis in the past. Initially, they pointed out that the calculations on the accelerated expansion of the Universe would have statistical errors and that, if these were resolved, there would be nothing to solve with the existence of dark energy. However, they did not provide much evidence about these alleged errors. Now, they have shed a little more light with their new study, which is why the controversy has been much more intense.

For and against. In statements to New Scientist Bielefeld University astronomer Dominik Schwarz points out that he finds this research very interesting, since it could explain the origin of all the discrepancies that made it necessary to launch the dark energy hypothesis. On the other hand, Joshua Frieman, from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States, tells in the same medium that we have evidence about the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe from multiple sources, including other supernova data sets, measurements of large-scale structure and cosmic microwave background radiation. Therefore, supernova analysis alone does not serve to disprove anything.

Logically, more tests will be necessaryboth for and against dark energy. For now, it seems that the defenders of its existence win, while those who believe otherwise continue to be considered controversial.

Images | DES Collaboration/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani | NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G.Cassam-Chenaï, J.Hughes et al.; Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF/GBT/VLA/Dyer, Maddalena & Cornwell; Optical: Middlebury College/F.Winkler, NOAO/AURA/NSF/CTIO Schmidt & DSS

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