universe’s Fate Reversed? New Calculations Suggest Potential Collapse in a “Big Crunch“
Recent research indicates the universe may not expand forever, but could rather eventually contract in a reversal of the Big Bang – a “Big Crunch” – perhaps occurring in roughly 11 billion years. For decades, the prevailing cosmological model assumed a positive cosmological constant, denoted as λ, driving continuous outward expansion. Though, new calculations are challenging this long-held belief.
According to a report by sciencealert, these latest findings suggest λ may actually be a small negative value, implying an inward gravitational pull that could ultimately overcome expansion. Physicist Henry Tye, of Cornell University, explains, “for the last 20 years, people believed that the cosmological constant is positive,” but ”the new data seem to indicate that the cosmological constant is negative.”
While the possibility of λ being zero hasn’t been ruled out, the research team’s best-fit model incorporates this small negative value. If other conditions align,this negative cosmological constant could be sufficient to halt and eventually reverse the universe’s expansion.
The model also incorporates the role of axions, hypothetical ultra-light particles theorized to exist as a smooth field throughout space. Originally proposed to address issues in particle physics, axions are now being investigated as a potential explanation for dark energy’s influence on the universe.
the study proposes that in the early universe, the axion field exerted a gentle outward force, contributing to the initial expansion. This outward push continues today, but at a decreasing rate. Researchers estimate that in approximately 11 billion years, this force will weaken enough for the inward pull of the negative cosmological constant to become dominant.
This transition would mark the end of expansion, initiating a period of contraction culminating in a singularity – the Big Crunch – roughly 8 billion years after the reversal begins.
Researchers emphasize that this Big Crunch scenario remains theoretical. As noted in the report, “a lot more data-crunching will be needed to determine whether dark energy is, indeed, evolving.”
Tye highlights the essential questions driving this research: “For any life, you wont to know how life begins and how life ends… it’s also interesting to know, does [the universe] have an end?” The possibility of a dynamic, rather than constant, dark energy fundamentally challenges the long-standing assumption of indefinite expansion.
the paper presents a potential framework for the universe’s ultimate fate, but further observations and theoretical work are crucial to confirm whether this scenario accurately reflects the cosmos’s true trajectory.
