Today we are going to talk about cosmology and the fact that black holes were considered as an almost unbelievable idea. In the 30s, British astronomer Arthur Eddington described the possibility of a star collapsing until becoming something so extreme that not even light could escape as “absurd.”
With the passage of time, science proved that black holes exist and that they are a fundamental part of the universe. Now, a new study suggests something even more surprising: black holes could be related to dark energy, the mysterious force that makes the universe expand and faster. So, let’s learn more about this, shall we?
Cosmology
Cosmology is the scientific study of the universe as a whole. It doesn’t focus only on stars or individual planets, but larger structures like galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the expansion of space itself.
Its main goal is to answer fundamental questions: how did the universe start? How has it changed with the passage of time? What is it made of? And what will its ultimate fate be?
One of the biggest current mysteries in cosmology is understanding why the expansion of the universe is accelerating. The mystery of dark energy sits at the heart of modern cosmology. Understanding it could explain the fate of the universe and the forces shaping it.
From ‘’absurd’’ to accepted science
At the beginning of the 20th century, black holes were only mathematical equations. Most scientists doubted that something so strange could exist in nature, but, with the passage of time, new observations and better tools changed this perception.
Physicists like Stephen Hawking helped bring black holes into mainstream physics. Today, they are widely accepted as real cosmic objects formed when massive stars collapse under their own gravity.
Dark energy
This is the name scientists give to something that’s proving the universe is expanding faster and faster. Since the Big Bang, the universe has been expanding, but observations show that this expansion is accelerating. Basically, dark energy acts like a background pressure pushing space outward.
According to the University of Michigan press release connected to this research, dark energy makes up roughly 70% of the universe. Despite its dominance, scientists still do not know what it is made of or where it comes from.
Cosmological coupling
The recent study focuses on a concept called ‘’cosmological coupling.’’ This idea proposes that the active mass of a black hole could increase as the universe expands, even if it’s not absorbing stars or gas.
It was common to believe that black holes grow only by absorbing nearby matter. However, the new proposal suggests something different: that black holes may be linked to the expansion of the universe itself.
Black holes and the expansion of the universe
In modern cosmology, understanding why the universe expands faster and faster is one of its biggest challenges and this new investigation places black holes at the center of that debate.
The team tested their hypothesis using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, which maps millions of galaxies to measure how the universe has expanded across cosmic history. For example, Gregory Tarlé described the concept as similar to a “Big Bang played in reverse,” suggesting that collapsing matter forming black holes could be linked to the rise of dark energy.
If you are curious to read the original study you can find it published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. The fact that it has been published here means the research has undergone peer review. However, you should know that scientists emphasize that further evidence is still needed.