NASA, ESA, CFHT, CXO, MJ Jee (University of California, Davis) and A. Mahdavi (San Francisco State University)
A few years ago, there was talk on the internet of “changing the vibe” in what counts as cool. Skinny jeans and minimalism were out; baggy pants and messy hair were inside. They caused a minor panic for aging millennials everywhere when they realized they were suddenly out of touch.
Now something similar is happening in cosmology. For years, physicists thought they had a perfect understanding of how the universe worked, a simple and elegant framework called the Standard Model of Cosmology that provided an excellent description of how it came to be and how it evolved. At the heart of the model is dark energy, a force we cannot identify, of course, but which behaves predictably to force the universe to expand.
Then last year, the explosive results of a telescope survey seemed to show the unthinkable: dark energy has been weakening over the course of the universe’s history. If this is true, then the standard model of cosmology will need to be rewritten. In a package of three special features, we delve into the beauty of the standard model, reveal how endangered it really is, and explore what could replace it.
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Where attachment to the old model is motivated by fear or nostalgia, this will not do
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However, it must be said that many physicists are still reluctant to abandon their favorite model. It is fair to some extent. As with many seemingly convincing results in modern physics, dark energy findings may not stand the test of time. But where affection for the old model is motivated by fear of the unknown or nostalgia for simpler times, it won’t do.
Scientists tend not to speak of vibrational shifts, but of paradigm shifts—periods when our lens of understanding changes fundamentally. History teaches us that paradigm shifts are a good thing. They are undoubtedly devastating, but they allow us to see reality more clearly. We’re not yet sure if the challenge to dark energy will truly represent a quantum or Copernican revolution-like paradigm shift—but if it does, we’ll look back on this period of cosmology as an exciting time to be alive. Breathe in a new atmosphere.
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