The mysterious dark energy, which is associated with the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe, has its roots in the background of the “vacuum energy” that permeates the entire cosmos and suggests new research.
“We assume that the dynamic effect of a quantum vacuum occurs, a parameter that can be calculated,” says co-author Joan Sola of the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Although dark energy makes up about 75 percent of the universe, scientists still do not know what it is. They developed several different theories, including the “quintessence theory”, suggesting the presence of something like an anti-embarrassing agent that repels rather than attracts.
The combined image of the Hubble telescope, displaying a ghostly ring of dark matter in a cluster of galaxies Cl 0024 + 17.
Another concept postulates the existence of a “phantom field” when density continues to increase with time. This theory predicts the acceleration of expansion to be so powerful that ultimately the ties that hold atoms together will break apart, tearing the Universe apart in the “Big Gap” in 20 billion years. The quintessence and phantom field hypotheses are partly based on data collected using NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, which study relic radiation - an ancient light that started saturate the Universe 380000 years after the Big Bang.
In a new study, Joan Sola and lead author Spyros Basilakos from the Academy of Athens, Greece, analyzed the observations of spacecraft and found no reliable evidence for the theory of quintessence and the phantom field.
The dark matter distribution model in the universe is 13.6 billion years ago.
"Our theoretical study shows that the equation of state of dark energy can mimic the field of quintessence or even the phantom field, but does not confirm any of them," says Sola. "Thus, when we observe these effects in the data obtained using WMAP and the Planck satellite, we understand that this is a fallacy."
Instead, Basilakos and Sola suggest that dark energy is a type of dynamic effect of a quantum vacuum, that is, something other than Einstein’s cosmic constant, which describes the static energy density of a vacuum and is another possible explanation of the nature of dark energy.
This collage shows images of six different galactic clusters made with the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. Clusters were discovered during attempts to investigate the behavior of dark matter in galactic clusters when they collide.
Basilakos and Sola recognize that there are some inconsistencies with the quantum theory of vacuum energy, but they say that this is a promising idea.
"Nevertheless, the quintessence and phantom fields are even more problematic, so an explanation based on the dynamic effect of a quantum vacuum can be more simple and natural," added Sola.
