by Ira Mark Egdall
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
– T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”, 1925
The first hints that the universe is expanding came in 1917 when Albert Einstein applied his general theory of relativity to the universe as a whole. (In those days, the known universe consisted of just our Milky Way galaxy.) To Einstein’s surprise, his field equations showed a universe which was either expanding or contracting. Since there was no evidence for such a thing, Einstein added his famous cosmological constant to model an eternally static universe – one that has always been and will always be the same size.
Then in 1927, Belgian priest and physicist Georges Lemaître — based on his solutions to Einstein’s original field equations, published redshift data, and Edwin Hubble’s distance determinations — proposed the universe is actually expanding. Faced with this compelling evidence, Einstein dropped the cosmological constant from his equations.
Dark Energy
Some seventy years later two independent teams led by Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt discovered the expansion of the universe is speeding up. (See Hubble, Keck, and the Nobel Prize below.) The mysterious cause of this acceleration has been dubbed “dark energy”.
Einstein had called his cosmological constant “the greatest mistake of my life.” But now a much larger magnitude cosmological constant appeared necessary to model this accelerating expansion. It seems Einstein is such a genius that even when he makes a mistake, he turns out to be right after all – sort of.
The Future of the Universe
(see Freedman, Kaufmann, Universe)
Assuming dark energy continues to exist in the same amount in the future (a big assumption since we have no idea what it is), cosmological models for a flat universe including a cosmological constant predict the expansion of the universe will continue to accelerate. As a result, some 100 billion years from now all but the closest galaxies will be receding from us faster than the speed of light, making them impossible to see.
In a trillion years, generation after generation of stars will have finally used up all the hydrogen and helium gases in the universe. With no more nuclear fuel, stars will no longer form, galaxies will go dim, and matter will consist of dead stars, cold planets, and spent meteorites.
In a billion billion years, random collisions of stellar objects will eventually drive many stars to lower galactic orbits. As they circle the black holes at their galactic center, they will give off even stronger gravitational waves. Over time this loss in energy will drive stars closer and closer to the black holes, eventually to be absorbed. Galaxies will then consist of enormous black holes surrounded by dead stars.
But be not dismayed — there is still some hope for our universe.
The End (or the Beginning?)
In an estimated 10^97 to 10^106 years (that’s some billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion years), black holes will finally evaporate due to Hawking radiation. And per Hawking’s theory, during the final moments of evaporation, these black holes will become white holes, “pumping new matter into the universe in an unpredictable fashion.” So at least theoretically, our universe will continue to exist in some strange new way.
However, predictions for the future of our universe are a very much a work in progress. There are still major questions to be resolved — like what dark energy actually is. Current physics research, including yet to be substantiated theories such as string theory, has the potential to shed new light on both how the big bang came to be as well as the ultimate fate of our universe. But until our understanding of dark energy improves and/or a new theory replaces general relativity and quantum mechanics, the future of the universe remains speculative at best.
Stay tuned.
References for this article:
1) Michael Way, Harry Nussbaumer, Letters, Phys. Today, Aug. 2011, p. 8.
2) B. Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, p. 301.
3) R. A. Freedman, W. J. Kaufmann III, Universe, 6th Edition, p. 661 (including “pumping” quote).
I welcome all comments — pro and con.
My website: marksmodernphysics.com
Follow me on twitter @IMEgdall
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