These scientists said by using this map, they have been able to measure how fast the universe has been expanding at different times in the past with unprecedented accuracy.
Arizona: A team of researchers recently released the most comprehensive “three-dimensional” map of the universe, which they say could reveal some hints about dark energy, the mysterious force that is believed to be causing the universe to expand uncontrollably.
These researchers, including an Indian team led by Shadab Alam at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, published its findings from the first year of observations by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, a unique piece of equipment that, once fitted over a telescope, can capture light from 5,000 galaxies at the same time.
These scientists said it could raise questions about the nature of dark energy and the future of the universe.
Notably, the research is based on data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (Desi) in Arizona and contains three times as many galaxies as previous efforts, with many having their distances measured for the first time.
These scientists said by using this map, they have been able to measure how fast the universe has been expanding at different times in the past with unprecedented accuracy.
Moreover, they added that the results confirm that the expansion of the universe is speeding up. However, the findings have also raised the tantalising possibility that dark energy – a mysterious, repulsive force that drives the process – is not constant throughout time as has previously been suggested.
Dr Seshadri Nadathur, a co-author of the work and senior research fellow at the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, said in a statement that the that they are seeing are some hints that it has actually been changing over time, which is quite exciting because it is not what the standard model of a cosmological constant dark energy would look like.”
Prof Carlos Frenk, from Durham University and a co-author of the research, added that if dark energy was indeed constant in time, the future of the universe was simple: it would expand on and on, for ever. But if the hints found in the map stood up, that would be called into question.
