Mysterious Force Causing Accelerated Expansion of the Universe, New Study Reveals

Researchers recently discovered quite a while the presence of a mysterious force that's causing the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe.

Without that force, the Universe might be on its way back to the singularity from where it originated during the Big Bang event, or at least, it would expand much slower than it does, a Health Thoroughfare report specified.

Even though nobody knows exactly what that particular force is and what it is made of, astronomers and astrophysicists have a cool name for it-dark energy.

That does not mean that researchers cannot find other essential information about dark energy, like where it is coming from.

Massive Cosmic Voids

A Live Science report said that a new study led by a group of Iranian theoretical physicists specifies that the massive voids of space might represent the reason behind such an accelerated expansion of the Universe. This means that dark energy might originate in the humongous portions of the void.

Essentially, the most massive cosmic void can gauge over 160 million light-years. This is far more than the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy, for example, which measures just 100,000 light-years.

It may not be surprising that quite much only the cosmic voids can feel the impacts of dark energy. Dark energy does not make any planet or galaxy turn larger. One cannot say evidently, the same about the cosmic voids.

Cosmic voids, like any other construction of the Universe, had their "incipient and undeveloped phases," the same science report said.

Cosmic Structures

Even the cosmic voids' growth can be seen from a different perspective compared to the one of an unavoidable pattern.

Such structures inflict some pressure as well on other cosmic structures, and they can even distort spacetime.

Furthermore, it is even forecasted that in the far future, the cosmic web will be devastated by cosmic voids, which can also lead to fast-tracked cosmic expansion.

Until more studies are carried out to validate or deny this current work, what's guaranteed and surprising is that such massive voids make up the majority of the Universe.

This new research was published in arXiv and accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters journal.

Cosmic Voids

Cosmic voids don't just exist. Like all other huge structures in the universe, they grow from humble beginnings into their current large stature.

Billions of years back, all the matter in the Universe was spread out quite evenly; there were no big density discrepancies from place to place.

However, over time, any place with slightly more matter than the average began attracting more matter onto it.

Additionally, that region had more attraction with more matter, fueling even more growth. Over billions of years, matter accumulated to form galaxies, clusters, and groups.

Walls of Galaxies

As such structures grew, the voids emptied and got larger. However, rather than seeing it as a passive process, its voids' growth can be viewed as exerting pressure on the surrounding structures.

For instance, as voids grow larger, the walls of galaxies between them steadily thin out and eventually dissolve, enabling voids to merge.

Lastly, in the next few billion years, such voids will end up dissolving the cosmic web, forcing all matter into isolated clumps split by hundreds of millions of light-years of emptiness.

Related information about dark energy is shown on Unveild's YouTube video below:

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