Could the universe's accelerating expansion be fueled by supermassive black holes?
In short: Dark energy makes up about 70% of the universe, yet its origin remains a mystery. A new study suggests we might not need a new force to explain it. Instead, the secret to the universe's expansion could be hidden inside the very centers of galaxies.
For decades, cosmologists have struggled to explain why the expansion of the universe is accelerating. While gravity should theoretically slow this expansion down, a mysterious force known as dark energy appears to be pushing everything apart. This energy, often associated with the 'vacuum energy' of empty space, accounts for roughly 70% of the total energy in the universe.
A study published in February 2023 by Farrah et al. proposes a radical connection: dark energy may actually be contained within black holes. By examining dormant, giant elliptical galaxies, a team of 17 researchers across nine countries observed that supermassive black holes grow in ways that cannot be explained by simply consuming nearby stars or gas. Over a 9-billion-year period, these black holes appeared to increase their mass by 7 to 20 times, a growth rate that exceeds what would be expected from accretion or mergers alone.
To test this, researchers modeled a coupling, known as 'k', between black holes and dark energy. They found a value of k=3.11 with 90% certainty, and were 99.98% certain that k is not zero, effectively ruling out a lack of correlation. If this holds, it could resolve the long-standing problem of the 'singularity'—the point of infinite density at a black hole's center. If black holes are filled with dark energy, that energy could counteract the effect of the infinitely dense mass, preventing the breakdown of spacetime.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: How BLACK HOLES May be Responsible for DARK ENERGY!
- Also: Scientists find first evidence that black holes are the source of dark energy | Imperial News | Imperial College London
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