New data support Einstein on accelerating universe

Science News ^ | 2/2/2012 | Elizabeth Quill

[U-238]

Einstein is still the boss, say researchers with the BOSS project for measuring key properties of the universe.

BOSS, for Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, has measured the distance to faraway galaxies more precisely than ever before, mapping the universe as it existed roughly 6 billion years ago, when it was only 63 percent of its current size. The findings suggest that the mysterious “dark energy” causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate was foreseen by Einstein, the researchers reported April 1 at the American Physical Society meeting.

To keep the universe in a static state, Einstein added a term called the “cosmological constant” to the equations for his theory of general relativity; when the universe was later found to be expanding, he called the constant his “biggest blunder.” But in recent years, the cosmological constant, which describes a repulsive force occupying all of space, has been invoked to explain the discovery, first reported in 1998, that the universe is expanding faster and faster.

Evidence for accelerated expansion could be explained either by the negative pressure exerted by the cosmological constant (or some other form of dark energy) or by some flaw in general relativity. The BOSS results support the dark energy picture. “We find no deviations from general relativity on these very large scales,” said Nikhil Padmanabhan, a physicist at Yale University who presented the results and is a coauthor on a series of papers posted online at arxiv.org.

[U-238]

Ping

[Crucial]

There are far more black holes out there that have been discovered than previously believed and it’s only the tip of the iceberg. It’s not dark matter. It’s compressed, nearly invisible matter, shrouded by a multitude of event horizons.

[U-238]

I agree. I would also include mini black holes are very common in the universe. I would use these mini black holes as a doorway into another universe or as FTL travel. You can probably use gravitational waves to find these black holes(see the LIGO project).

[ETL]

Under his General Relativity theory, the universe should eventually collapse (under gravity). So he concocted the notion of an “accelerating” force to keep it static/stationary as scientists thought it was at the time. This was before Hubble and Co discovered that the universe was expanding, or in a state of “infinite deceleration” (prior to the comparatively recent discovery that the universe was/is actually accelerating in its expansion).

[Lancey Howard]

...mapping the universe as it existed roughly 6 billion years ago, when it was only 63 percent of its current size.

So, "universe" is defined as only a large cluster of stars? And the "size" of the universe is only everything between the two stars (that we can observe) most distant from each other? Huh.. When I think of "universe" I think of infinity. That is, not only the stars, but everything beyond the stars. I mean, who's to say there isn't another cluster of stars equal to or greater than all the stars we can observe from earth, a trillion-to-the-trillionth-power-to-the-trillionth-power-to-the-trillionth power light years away?

What would that be? A separate "universe"?

[U-238]

This has been the eternal battle between cosmologists. Whether the universe will collapse(the Big Crunch) or it will eventually continue expanding until the universe is filled with stellar copses and black holes. The other big battle is the age of the universe.

[tet68]

Scientists have known for a while about why the
universe is expanding.....it’s trying to get away
from Chuck Norris.

[U-238]

Again, this has been the battle between cosmologists since Edwin Hubble came out with his paper in 1929. What is the age of the universe? My perception that they come up with different ages almost every year.

[ETL]

This has been the eternal battle between cosmologists. Whether the universe will collapse(the Big Crunch) or it will eventually continue expanding

But at the time Einstein introduced his famous "fudge factor" it was not yet known that the universe was even expanding, let alone accelerating. Turned out he was right but for the wrong reasons.

[U-238]

I agree with you.

[James C. Bennett]

Black Holes emit radiation. Why does Dark Matter not do it? If this is true, then the two cannot be the same.

[ETL]

“In the context of cosmology the cosmological constant is a homogeneous energy density that causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Originally proposed early in the development of general relativity in order to allow a static universe solution it was subsequently abandoned when the universe was found to be expanding. Now the cosmological constant is invoked to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe.”

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Cosmological_constant

[The Cajun]

Wonder if as you approach the edge (oldest) part of the observable universe, the Higgs field/boson is weakening causing particle mass to slightly decrease, the gravity well effect in that part of space to slightly decrease, resulting in outward acceleration.

[rurgan]

This just seems to be beyond the comprehension of “science” and of scientists.

[U-238]

Dark Matter is a recent “theory” that astronomers,astrophysicists and cosmologists have been debating.Dark Matter cannot emit or absorbs light but it emits electromagnetic energy. Dark Matter consists of 80 percent of the entire matter of the universe. How we know they exist, by using gravitational lensing or by observing supernovas.I believe that dark matter is made up of brown dwarfs and black holes in the center of galaxies.

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html

[U-238]

All this is rather new. Most of these theories have come up within the 100 years. I do believe if you answer one question, five more questions will pop up.

[ETL]

Black Holes emit radiation. Why does Dark Matter not do it?

There are two forms of dark matter (Baryonic and non-Baryonic). One (Baryonic) is ordinary matter which simply isn't reflecting or emitting light. The other (non-Baryonic) is the allegedly strange stuff that makes up the vast majority of the universe. It doesn't interact with light at all, but it supposedly explains various observed motions of galaxies which don't seem to make sense without some sort of additional gravitational force.

[rurgan]

Yeah like the global warming questions. Global warming is completely fake science. So why should we believe anything these scientists say and even in what they about the universe say you can tell they don’t understand any of it.

[rurgan]

Yeah like the global warming questions. Global warming is completely fake science. So why should we believe anything these scientists say ? and even in what they about the universe ,you can tell they don’t understand any of it.