Source of dark energy that makes up 70 percent of the universe discovered

The concept of dark energy, first put forward by Albert Einstein, still continues to remain a mystery. By illuminating this phenomenon, scientists hope to unravel other unknown areas of the universe. New observations reveal the first evidence that black holes are the source of dark energy.

Black holes are the source of dark energy.

Measurements from ancient and dormant galaxies show that black holes are growing larger than expected, consistent with a phenomenon predicted in Einstein’s theory of gravity. As a result, we do not need to add anything new to the equation for the universe to explain dark energy, because black holes, which Einstein combined with gravity, could be the source.

This conclusion was reached by a team of 17 researchers led by the University of Hawaii, consisting of physicists from Imperial College London and STFC RAL Space. The study was published as two articles in The Astrophysical Journal and The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

From the Imperial Department of Physics, Dr. Dave Clements expressed the importance of the study as follows: “This is a really surprising result. We started by looking at how black holes grow over time, and we may have found the answer to one of the biggest problems in cosmology.”

STFC RAL Space’s Dr. “If the theory is correct, then it will revolutionize all of cosmology, because we have finally found a solution to the origin of dark energy that has baffled cosmologists and theoretical physicists for more than 20 years,” Chris Pearson said. used the phrases.

Gravity and dark energy

Some laws of physics that we assume we know do not work at the universe scale in some cases. For example, when we throw a tennis ball on Earth, the ball stops after a while due to friction. If we throw the same object in an environment where there is no gravity and air (in space), it will continue to move until an obstacle appears in front of it. So far everything is normal. But modern science shows that the universe itself does not conform to this order. The universe has been expanding since the Big Bang, and the rate of expansion is increasing. I mean, everything moves away faster than anything else. So this is hard to explain; Because the gravitational force between all objects in the universe should be slowing this expansion, but it doesn’t.

To explain this, it has been suggested that a “dark energy” is responsible for pulling objects apart more strongly than gravity. The new result shows that black holes consistently gain mass by containing vacuum energy, thus becoming a source of dark energy and eliminating the need for singularities to form at their centers.

Black holes can grow in size by swallowing stars that approach them or by merging with other black holes. The team analyzed nine billion years of data to discover whether these effects alone could explain the growth of supermassive black holes. The researchers looked at a particular type of galaxy that evolved in the early universe and then became dormant. There is not enough material left in these galaxies for new star formation, and if there is no material, there should be no matter to be swallowed. Therefore, the giant black hole at the center was not supposed to grow/grow fast.

New term: Cosmological coupling

The researchers compared observations of distant galaxies (when they were young) with observations of local elliptical galaxies (old and dead). Observations revealed that today’s black holes are 7-20 times larger than they were nine billion years ago.

There is thought to be a good match between the size of the universe and the mass of black holes. This shows that the measured amount of dark energy in the universe can be explained by the vacuum energy found in black holes. As a result, this new study is the first observational proof that black holes actually contain vacuum energy, that they “match” the expansion of the universe, and that their mass increases as the universe expands. Scientists called this a “cosmological match.”

If further observations confirm this, the cosmological match could redefine our understanding of what black holes are.