Fermilab Reports Dark Energy Not Needed

An anonymous reader writes "A Fermilab press release reports that the expansion of the universe may be explainable without the need for dark energy or a cosmological constant. Apparently, ripples from inflation in the early universe may account for the observed expansion rate of the universe."

Comments

Nothing for you to see here.

[brilinux]

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

Well, apparently the dark matter is still important on Slashdot.

Inflation...

[ackthpt]

Apparently, ripples from inflation in the early universe may account for the observed expansion rate of the universe."

Hmm. Better check the exchange rates on Altairian Dollars, Flainian Pobble Beads and the Triganic Pu.

Has anyone contacted Alan Greenspan about this?

WWDVS?

[LokieLizzy]

(What would Darth Vader say?)

"Do not be so proud of this cosmological terror you have created. Its existence pales when compared to the power of the Dark Side."

That Einstein...

[Omniscientist]

"Whether Einstein was right when he first introduced the cosmological constant, or whether he was right when he later refuted the idea will soon be tested by a new round of precision cosmological observations," Kolb said.

So either way, Einstein was right. Damn you Einstein!!!

I believe in Dark Energy, and...

[LokieLizzy]

I'm not a scientist.

But I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. And when the lights went out at midnight (power outage), I can assure you that there was more than a little energy going on in the room next door.

Re:But what about the Horizon problem?

[niktemadur]

While it is a generally accepted law that nothing WITHIN space can travel faster than light, this law may not apply to SPACE ITSELF, which could inflate at superluminous speeds if the correct conditions are present.

I know this sounds bizarre, and I'm no expert on the subject, but I'll try to give a simple example that even I can understand:

Let's say space is like a balloon.
Matter are the molecules within that balloon.
The matter within may not move faster than light by its' own means.
But the balloon may inflate faster than light, and the matter within goes along for the ride.
At the end of inflation, the matter has kept its' same relative position in space.

The correct condition for inflation to happen is known as supercooling. Here is an example that Alan Guth used to describe it: water that's below 32 degrees farenheit but retains its' liquid state. However, just gently tap the plastic mold and the water will abruptly crystalize into ice before your very eyes. Supercooled water.

Another example would be a beer in the freezer that's liquid, but turns to ice from the top down when you open the lid. Supercooled beer.

Accordingly, the universe would have to inflate at a certain speed (much faster than light) to re-attain its' appropriate state under specific conditions.

According to Alan Guth, most of the universe's matter cancelled itself out instants after the Big Bang, due to matter-antimatter collitions. In a super-excited state, the universe found itself almost empty, and had to readjust by inflation and a spontaneous burst of creation of matter. In fact, Guth said that with 28 pounds of matter under the right conditions, a universe just as massive as ours could be created. This is why Guth said that our universe could be the ultimate "free lunch".