Scientists Say the Universe Would 'Eventually Grind to a Halt and Decay Into Nothing', Call It the 'Long Freeze'
For a long time, Cosmologists have been debating about the way the Universe will meet its end. Several theories have been put forward by researchers, with the 'long freeze' being the recent one to join the bandwagon. This phenomenon has been proposed by a pair of scientists from the U.S. and India, Popular Mechanics reported. The experts published their findings (non-peer reviewed) in the preprint database arXiv on September 30.
Their idea originated out of a popular theory known as "holographic dark energy," Popular Mechanics reported. 'Holographic dark energy' suggests that gravity is essentially a hologram of some lower-dimensional reality. This implies that the universe in reality is two-dimensional, but quantum forces in play create an illusion of gravity and 3D space. This universe will experience an accelerated expansion, which has been identified as dark energy by the experts.
As per researchers, 70% of the energy density in the universe is composed of 'dark energy,' Live Science reported. Experts believe that the expansion of the universe causes both regular and dark matter to experience a drop in their density. In this situation, dark energy begins to manifest itself.
The experts in the paper assumed the theory of 'holographic dark energy' as reality and drew their conclusion on how the universe would end on that basis, Indy100 reported. The accelerated expansion of the universe led by 'holographic dark energy' will eventually begin to slow down, as per their findings.
The shrinking density of the holographic dark energy and matter during the slowing down period will eventually cause the universe to come to a halt, Live Science reported. This will facilitate a situation that researchers have termed as the 'long freeze.'
'Long Freeze' has been defined as a period in which the lack of new energy sources will cause stars to perish, according to researchers, Popular Mechanics reported. The last normal structures, that will survive on the planet, during the 'long freeze' will be black holes, as per the paper. But, they will also soon meet their end, amidst the same phenomenon.
Other universe-ending scenarios proposed by researchers include 'Big Freeze' and 'Big Crunch,' Live Science reported. 'Big Crunch' is a scenario, where the universe's expansion is reversed, while during the 'Big Freeze' the accelerated expansion will continue to go on at the same pace. Despite so many ideas, scientists are yet to conclude on one of them as the absolute answer to how the universe would end.
Scientists are in no rush to conclude on one proposition, as according to their analysis, the universe is not going away anytime soon, Popular Mechanics reported. The Stelliferous Era which is the universe's star-making period, has not been predicted to end for another 100 trillion years. As long as the stars exist, the universe will exist.