
"A new study published in Physical Review Letters suggests that black holes might spew dark energyand that they could help explain an intriguing conflict between different measurements of the universe. Dark energy is the force driving the accelerated expansion of the universe. No one knows what it is, but it's thought to permeate everything. In the theory proposed in the new study, dark energy is also something that arises from dead starsand therefore didn't exist in the universe until stars were around to begin dying."
"Although the idea is controversial, it's a prominent example of a newly energized attempt to understand how dark energy works, whether it changes over time and whether our cosmic accounting may be off. I view this black hole paper as an interesting entry in this growing canon of people testing out, What if I add these physicsdoes that reconcile these tensions?' says Jessie Muir, a physicist at the University of Cincinnati."
A proposed mechanism posits that black holes emit dark energy, linking dark energy production to the deaths of stars. Dark energy drives the universe's accelerated expansion and is thought to permeate space, though its physical origin remains unknown. Under the proposal, dark energy would not have existed before stars began dying, making it time-dependent and tied to stellar evolution. Black-hole–sourced dark energy could change cosmic energy accounting and potentially reconcile conflicting measurements of the universe's expansion rate. The idea is controversial but represents an effort to modify cosmological physics and reassess the cosmological constant's role.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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