| Future of the Universe
|
How do we go about determining the ultimate fate of the Universe?
Tests for the Appropriate Solution and Estimates for the Best model
If we look only around now, small redshift, we can only see what
the Universe looks like over a small region. In this case, this tells us how
we must study the Universe, how we can look.
If we can see to large redshift, this means that we can see the Universe
when it was younger, that is,
we can test to see what the Universe looked like when it was young.
- Test: Fate of the Universe from Small z
Observations →
inconclusive results on Ω,
but showed dark matter
dominates normal
matter
- Test: Fate of the Universe from Large z
Observations →
Universe is flat, Ω = 1 with the most likely possibility that
dark energy is dominant
-
Universe from a Snapshot of the
Cosmic Microwave Background Radation, CMB
→ Best model for the
Universe is Ω = 1 with dark energy
dominant and that dark matter dominates
normal matter
Global measurements of Omega (from CMB
supported by Type Ia SNe)
Ωγ+
Ωm+
ΩΛ = 1 →
The Universe is Flat
and 68.3 % of the Universe is Dark Energy;
dark matter part of the matter, ΩDM ~ 27 %, and the
normal matter part of
the matter, Ωb ~ 4.9 %.
A nagging issue connected with Dark
Energy is something known as the
Cosmological Constant Problem.