"In a new yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper flagged by Live Science, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology in Jodhpur named Muhammad Ghulam Khuwajah Khan proposes an intriguing theory: that space is something akin to a viscous fluid, like a slow-moving honey. If borne out - a significant "if," to be clear - the model could go a long way to explaining certain discrepancies that have rankled scientists about the universe."
"Currently, astronomers generally embrace the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Model - often shortened to the ΛCDM model - to explain mathematically how the Big Bang Theory occurred, how dark matter keeps galaxies together, and how dark energy is driving the expansion of the universe. The energy density of space is known as the cosmological constant, written as the Greek letter Lambda or Λ, and is considered an unchanging quality."
"But recent data captured by the The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey in Arizona and the Dark Energy Survey in Chile suggests that scientists may need to update the ΛCDM model of the universe; astronomers picked up discrepancies between telescopic observations and the ΛCDM model that seems to point towards the idea that dark energy, long thought to be an immutable throughout space time, has instead weakened as the universe has accelerated and grown older."
"Khan's theory, an attempt to reconcile this mismatch, posits that we should instead mathematically treat outer space as a viscous, stretchy fluid that can contain a quality he calls "spatial phonons," or vibrations emitted by atoms - which create waves of tension in space. The theory is that dark energy pushes space to expand, but these phonons subtly push back, meaning the universe's expasion isn't uniform; layering this i"
A model proposes that outer space behaves like a viscous, stretchy fluid that can carry "spatial phonons" — vibrations from atoms that create waves of tension in space. Dark energy pushes space to expand while spatial phonons push back, producing nonuniform expansion and changing effective expansion strength over time. Recent DESI and Dark Energy Survey observations reveal discrepancies with the ΛCDM model that suggest dark energy might have weakened as the universe aged. Treating space as a viscous medium could mathematically account for those discrepancies by adding resistance and layered behavior to cosmic expansion. The model remains speculative and requires further verification.
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