

of the universe suggested that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing.

But what if we are wrong? A team of scientists led by Subir Sarkar at Oxford

University have now found the proof on which this idea is based is not as solid

as previously thought. For almost 20 years, our understandingof the universe suggested that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing.But what if we are wrong? A team of scientists led by Subir Sarkar at OxfordUniversity have now found the proof on which this idea is based is not as solidas previously thought.













the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. This was grounded on the study

of Type Ia supernovae – exploding dying stars. After this observation, the data

set of this kind of supernovae has improved vastly, letting researchers to reconsider

the initial proofs based on more evidence. In a recent study issued in Scientific Reports , researchers looked at the evidence originally used to provethe universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. This was grounded on the studyof Type Ia supernovae – exploding dying stars. After this observation, the dataset of this kind of supernovae has improved vastly, letting researchers to reconsiderthe initial proofs based on more evidence.





Sarkar said:





There now exists a

much bigger database of supernovae on which to perform rigorous and detailed

statistical analyses. We analysed the latest catalogue of 740 Type Ia

supernovae – over ten times bigger than the original samples on which the

discovery claim was based – and found that the evidence for accelerated

expansion is, at most, what physicists call ‘3 sigma’. This is far short of the

‘5 sigma’ standard required to claim a discovery of fundamental

significance.



the results are more reliable with a constant rate of expansion. Although there

is other indication to point to an accelerating universe – counting the information

on cosmic microwave background – all these proofs are “indirect”,

Sarkar said. So instead of accelerating,the results are more reliable with a constant rate of expansion. Although thereis other indication to point to an accelerating universe – counting the informationon cosmic microwave background – all these proofs are “indirect”,Sarkar said.



work will be required to satisfy others of their findings, but if it turns out

to be accurate a massive amount of study carried out over the last two decades might

be based on inappropriate models. He said a massive amount ofwork will be required to satisfy others of their findings, but if it turns outto be accurate a massive amount of study carried out over the last two decades mightbe based on inappropriate models.





Sarkar said:





The discovery of the

accelerating expansion of the universe won the Nobel Prize, the Gruber

Cosmology Prize, and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. It led to

the widespread acceptance of the idea that the universe is dominated by ‘dark

energy’ that behaves like a cosmological constant – this is now the ‘standard

model’ of cosmology.

It is quite possible

that we are being misled and that the apparent manifestation of dark energy is

a consequence of analysing the data in an oversimplified theoretical model –

one that was in fact constructed in the 1930s, long before there was any real

data.