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https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/researc...celerating
INTRO: Our universe's expansion is still accelerating despite recent claims suggesting otherwise, an international team of astrophysicists say.
They refuted a study published last year claiming the growth of the universe is slowing and insist there is no flaw in the widely-accepted theory that a mysterious force known as dark energy is driving the expanding cosmos.
The researchers, who include two Nobel Laureates and represent institutions worldwide, say the debate that followed last November’s revelations was the result of a scientific misunderstanding rather than a cosmic grenade threatening to blow apart everything we know about the universe.
Their paper has been published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
It is a direct rebuttal of a study by a team of South Korean researchers that made the erroneous claim the universe's expansion may have entered a deceleration phase, caused by the influence of dark energy – which acts as a kind of anti-gravity – weakening over time.
"The previous and well accepted measurements were, in fact, fine and our current understanding of the fate of the universe remains robust," said lead author Dr Phil Wiseman, from the University of Southampton.
"Thankfully we have averted this crisis, but the mystery about why the rate of expansion of the universe is still accelerating remains. By proving our measurements are correct, we can get back to trying to understand what this dark energy actually is, rather than wondering if it exists at all." (MORE - no ads)
INTRO: Our universe's expansion is still accelerating despite recent claims suggesting otherwise, an international team of astrophysicists say.
They refuted a study published last year claiming the growth of the universe is slowing and insist there is no flaw in the widely-accepted theory that a mysterious force known as dark energy is driving the expanding cosmos.
The researchers, who include two Nobel Laureates and represent institutions worldwide, say the debate that followed last November’s revelations was the result of a scientific misunderstanding rather than a cosmic grenade threatening to blow apart everything we know about the universe.
Their paper has been published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
It is a direct rebuttal of a study by a team of South Korean researchers that made the erroneous claim the universe's expansion may have entered a deceleration phase, caused by the influence of dark energy – which acts as a kind of anti-gravity – weakening over time.
"The previous and well accepted measurements were, in fact, fine and our current understanding of the fate of the universe remains robust," said lead author Dr Phil Wiseman, from the University of Southampton.
"Thankfully we have averted this crisis, but the mystery about why the rate of expansion of the universe is still accelerating remains. By proving our measurements are correct, we can get back to trying to understand what this dark energy actually is, rather than wondering if it exists at all." (MORE - no ads)