One of the major achievements of the 20th century was the precise definition of how big, broad and massive is our universe. With about two trillion galaxies, enclosed in a volume with a radius of 46 billion light years, our observable universe allows us to reconstruct the full story of our cosmos, right up to the Big Bang and maybe even a little earlier. But what about the future? What is the universe? Will you?
Someone says that the Universe’s expansion slows. The Nobel prize was awarded for the “discovery” that the expansion of the Universe increases. But who is right? The universe could one day collapse in the so-called Big crunch (reverse Big Bang)?
Best future behaviour is predicted based on the behavior of the past. But just as people can sometimes surprise us, the universe can also.
The expansion rate of the Universe at a certain moment depends on two factors: the full density of energy existing in space-time, and the amount present of the curvature of space. If we understand the laws of gravity and how different types of energy evolyutsioniruet over time, we can reconstruct everything that occurred at some point in the past. We can also look at various remote objects at different distances and measure how stretched the light due to the expansion of space. Each galaxy, supernova, molecular gas cloud, etc. — anything that absorbs or emits light, the space will tell the story of how the expansion of space stretched since the birth of light till the moment of our observation it.
From many independent observations we have been able to infer from what is directly the universe consists. We made three large independent chains of observations:
- In the cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations are present, which encode information about the curvature of the Universe, normal matter, dark matter, neutrinos and the total content of the density.
- Correlations between galaxies on the largest scales — known as the baryon acoustic oscillations provide a very strict measure the total matter density, the ratio of normal matter and dark matter and how changing the rate of expansion over time.
- And the most distant, luminous standard candles in the Universe, supernovae type Ia, tell us about the expansion rate and dark energy, how they have changed over time.
These strands of evidence, all together, draw us a coherent picture of the Universe. They tell us that there is in the modern Universe, and give us a cosmology in which:
- 4.9% of the energy of the Universe represented by the normal matter (protons, neutrons, and electrons);
- 0.1% of the energy of the Universe exists in the form of massive neutrinos (which are the matter the last time and acted like radiation in the early days);
- 0.01% of the energy of the Universe exists in the form of radiation (like photons);
- 27% of the energy of the Universe exists in the form of dark matter;
- 68% of the energy inherent to space itself: dark energy.
All this gives us the Universe is flat (curvature 0%), the Universe without topological defects (magnetic monopoles, cosmic strings, domain walls or cosmic textures), the Universe with a known history of expansion.
Equations of the General relativity theory is very deterministic in this sense: if we know what the universe is made today, and the laws of gravity, we know how important each component in any given period of the past. At first dominated by radiation and neutrinos. Billions of years the most important components was dark matter and normal matter. Over the last few billion years — and it will get worse over time dark energy became the dominant factor in the expansion of the Universe. This causes the Universe to accelerate, and from that point, many people no longer understand what is happening.
There are two things we can measure, when talking about the expansion of the Universe: the expansion rate and the rate at which individual galaxies, from our point of view, go to perspective. They are related, but remain different. The rate of expansion, on the one hand, talks about how the fabric of space itself stretches over time. It is always defined as the velocity per unit of distance, usually given in kilometers per second (speed) per megaparsec (distance), where a megaparsec is about 3.26 m light years.
If it were not for dark energy, the expansion rate would fall over time, approaching zero as the density of matter and radiation would fall to zero as the expansion volume. But with dark energy the expansion rate remains dependent on the density of dark energy. If dark energy was the cosmological constant, the expansion rate would be leveled off to a constant value. But some galaxies receding from us, accelerated.
Imagine the rate of expansion of certain quantities: 50 km/s/MPC. If the galaxy is from us on distance of 20 IPC, it apparently recedes from us at speed of 1000 km/s. But give her time, and by extension the fabric of space, this galaxy will eventually be farther away from us. With time it will be twice as far: 40 MPK, and the velocity is 2000 km/s. it Will take more time, and it will be 10 times more: 200 MPK, and the removal rate of 10,000 km/s. Over time it will be removed to a distance of 6000 MPC from us and will be disposed of at a speed of 300 000 km/s, which is faster than the speed of light. The more the time goes, the faster the galaxy is away from us. That’s why the universe is “accelerating” pace of expansion is falling, but the rate of divergence of the individual galaxies from us is only growing.
All of this is consistent with our best measurements of dark energy is a constant energy density inherent to the space. As soon as the space expands, the density of dark energy remains constant, and the universe will end “the Big Freeze”, when everything that is not connected together by gravity (like our local group, galaxy, Solar system) will disperse and diverge. If dark energy is indeed cosmological constant, this expansion will continue indefinitely until the universe becomes cold and empty.
But if dark energy is dynamic — that is theoretically possible, but remains without observational evidence — could end up the Big squeeze or a Large Gap. In a Large Compression of the dark energy will weaken and gradually turn the process of expansion of the Universe, so that she began to shrink. It may even be a cyclic universe, where the “compression” gives rise to a new Big Bang. If dark energy will be strengthened, we are waiting for a different fate, when the associated structures will be torn gradually increasing rate of expansion. Today, however, everything indicates that we are waiting for the Big Freeze when the universe will expand forever.
The main scientific objectives of future observatories like ESA’s Euclid or WFIRST NASA include measuring whether dark energy is the cosmological constant. And although the leading theory speaks in favor of a constant dark energy, it is important to understand that there may be the possibility, not excluded by measurements and observations. Roughly speaking, the universe could still collapse, and it is not excluded. Need more data.
Can the universe one day collapse?
Ilya Hel