Will the universe end with an explosion or a scream? A pair of theoretical physicists proposed a third way: perhaps the universe will never end. In a study trying to determine the nature of dark energy, a mysterious phenomenon believed to cause the universe to expand faster every second, physicists discovered that cosmic expansion isn’t always certain. Instead, they write, dark energy can “turn on and off” periodically, sometimes expanding the cosmos and sometimes shrinking it, until conditions are created for another Big Bang and the birth of a new universe.

Our universe is currently going through a phase of rapid expansion: the cosmos is growing every moment. Cosmologists do not understand why this acceleration, which they call dark energy. If this acceleration continues, our universe will eventually expand into oblivion, and all matter and radiation will shatter.

This will not be the first period of rapid growth. In the early moments of the Big Bang, the energy and density were so extreme that current physics can’t handle it – it predicts a singularity, the point of infinite density where mathematics collapses. After that, the universe went through a period of incredibly rapid expansion, again not fully understood, known as inflation.

Astronomers have long wondered whether these two phases of accelerated expansion—one in the early moments of the Big Bang and the other in the present era—are related, and whether the entity driving both can escape the big bang problem. singularity

To answer that question, a pair of theoretical physicists have published a study in the arXiv preprints database that looks at a model of the universe in which dark energy has always played a role. Previous studies have modeled the “turn on” of dark energy at different times to drive cosmic expansion, but the new study proposes a more realistic model involving matter and radiation.

They wanted to see if dark energy could escape the Big Bang singularity, cause inflation, and speed up the late universe. To avoid this initial singularity, the universe cannot begin at the point of infinite density. Instead, the universe we live in must be one of an endless repeating series of “great leaps.”

In this scenario, dark energy controls the universe until it reaches a certain size. But then dark energy transforms, causing the universe to contract. The cosmos then goes into a major crisis, but just before it reaches a state of infinite density, dark energy returns again, causing an incredibly rapid period of inflation and restarting the cycle.

Researchers have found a dark energy pattern that does the trio. But most importantly, matter and radiation could not have been present in the very early universe, or they would have disrupted inflation. Instead, matter and radiation should have appeared soon after inflation, as some of the dark energy decayed and filled the universe with light and matter.

Although initially successful, researchers have not always found a general class of dark energy models that can produce the same results. Instead, they had to artificially introduce a smaller value than quantum mechanics predicted for modern accelerated expansion to get the exact right result.

However, this new study points in a promising direction by providing a suitable platform for further study of similar patterns. Humans are not necessarily living in cold, empty space, as dark energy may behave differently in the distant future. Only continued research will reveal our ultimate destiny.