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D.5 Further cosmology

Dark energy
In The accelerating universe (/study/app/12c-ibdp-physics-hl/sid-49-cid-
255088/book/the-accelerating-universe-id-11710), we were led to conclude that the
there was 'stuff' in the universe which, in the current epoch, has led to an accelerated
expansion of space. This was contrary to what was expected to be found, not because of
a cognitive bias, but because if one were to fill the universe with 'stuff' in order to make
predictions to be tested by observation, one would naturally choose matter and energy.
In such a universe, due to the attractive nature of the gravitational force, the expansion
rate would slow down, i.e. it would decelerate. When evidence of an accelerating
universe was found, corroborated and widely accepted by the scientific community, the
questions became:

What is this 'stuff', now called dark energy, made out of?
How much dark energy is there?

We will explore these two questions in this section.

Curvature of space and density

Imagine that you are standing on a high cliff and throw a rock up into the air. In that
case, three outcomes are possible:

1. the rock will reach a maximum height and then plummet down
until it reaches the ground below;
2. the rock will have sufficient launch speed to just escape the
planet's gravitational pull (remember escape velocity
(/study/app/12c-ibdp-physics-hl/sid-49-cid-
255088/book/satellites-orbits-and-escape-velocity-id-3336)); and
3. the rock will have such a large launch speed that it will continue
to have a velocity directed away from the planet you are standing
on.

By considering the total energy of the rock, E , at any point along its trajectory, we have

1 GM m
2
E = mv − ,
2 r

as the sum of the kinetic and potential energy of a rock of mass m at a distance r from
the centre of a planet of mass M . In that case, in terms of total energy, the three
outcomes are
 1. E < 0 : the rock will reach a maximum height and then come
down again;
2. E = 0 : the rock just escapes the planet's gravitational pull with
no kinetic energy left at r = ∞; and
3. E > 0 : the rock will continue to have kinetic energy along its
entire trajectory.

We now apply this to the universe where a galaxy of mass m is at a distance r from us
in an expanding universe. In The creation of space and time (/study/app/12c-ibdp-
physics-hl/sid-49-cid-255088/book/the-creation-of-space-and-time-id-11706), we
argued that galaxies are simply convenient ways to mark coordinates in space and that
the motion of galaxies is, in fact, motion of the space in time. In this analogy, then, the
trajectory of the galaxy is the evolution of space. Then, in a universe that
expands according to Hubble's law and has an average mass-energy density ρ, i.e., the
density of all the 'stuff' in the universe, we obtain

1 2
GM m
E = mv −
2 r

4 3
where v = H r and M = πr ρ
3
2
1 4πGmr ρ
2 2
= mH r −
2 3

1 8πGρ
2 2
= mr H (1 − ) .
2
2 3H

Hence, we conclude that the sign of E , which differentiates between the three different
outcomes, depends on the values of ρ and H . E = 0 is clearly the border between
expansion forever (galaxy moving away from us forever) and collapse (galaxy reaching
a maximum distance and then 'falling' back towards us) and we shall call that
the critical outcome. As such, we define a critical density, ρ , c

8πGρ c 8πGρ c
1 − = 0 ⇔ = 1
2 2
3H 3H

such that:

2
3H
ρc = .
8πG

In fact, we usually define the density parameter, Ω, as the ratio between the density of
the universe, ρ, and the critical density,

ρ
Ω = .
ρc

In terms of our density parameter, the three different outcomes for the evolution of the
universe are:

1. Ω > 1 or ρ > ρc : the universe will stop expanding after which it

will reverse and (re-)collapse; in other words, there will be a
maximum separation between coordinates;
 2. Ω < 1 or ρ < ρc : the universe will continue to expand, the
physical distance between coordinates will continue to increase;
and
3. Ω = 1 or ρ = ρc : the universe will halt expansion in infinite
time, physical distances between coordinates will reach a
maximum size in infinite time.

There is another aspect of the universe which depends fundamentally on the density
parameter and that is the geometry of space (/study/app/12c-ibdp-physics-hl/sid-49-cid-
255088/book/cmb-fluctuations-id-11803) we discussed earlier. It is beyond the level of
this course to justify the link between the density parameter and the curvature of
space, we will merely state it:

1. Ω > 1 or ρ > ρc : the geometry of space is closed and the

universe has a positive curvature;
2. Ω = 1 or ρ = ρc : the geometry of space is flat and the universe
has zero curvature; and
3. Ω < 1 or ρ < ρc : the geometry of space is open and the universe
has a negative curvature.

Definition
The critical density, ρc , is the density which would give the universe a flat,
Euclidean geometry. The density parameter, Ω, is the ratio of the actual density of
ρ
the universe, ρ, to the critical density. Thus, Ω = .
ρc

It is important to realise that the density parameter is a measure of all the mass-energy
density in the universe and is the sum of its various components: ordinary
baryonic matter (atoms), dark matter (MACHOs or WIMPs), radiation (photons), as
well as dark energy. In addition, the density of each of these may vary during the
evolution of the universe and, using our earlier convention, we denote the overall
density parameter today by Ω . The link between geometry and the density parameter is
0

shown in Figure 1.
 Figure 1. The relationship between the density parameter of the
universe today, Ω0 , and the geometry of space of the universe; recall
that the three different geometries may be distinguished by adding up
the internal angles of a triangle (/study/app/12c-ibdp-physics-hl/sid-49-
cid-255088/book/cmb-fluctuations-id-11803).

Dark energy
How much dark energy is there? We already noted that from the CMB fluctuations and
other observations, the universe appears to have a flat geometry. In other words, Ω ≈ 1.
In today's universe, parameterised by Ω , the radiation energy density is negligible, so
0

that we conclude that we must have

Ω0 = Ωm + ΩΛ ≈ 1 ,

where Ω is the density parameter of matter (atoms and dark matter) today and Ω is
m Λ

the density parameter of dark energy today. The latest data from the Planck satellite
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_(spacecraft)) gives us, to two significant figures,
Ωm = 0.32 and Ω Λ
= 0.69 such that, indeed, within experimental error, the universe's

geometry is flat.

So there we stand: of all the stuff in the universe, 69% is in the form of dark energy,
about which we have no real idea what it could be (more on that below). Of the 32%
that is in the form of matter, 27% is in the form of dark matter that appears to require
some form of exotic yet-to-be-discovered non-baryonic matter, and only about 5% is in
the form of ordinary atoms! This is illustrated in Figure 2A, while Figure 2B illustrates
that the individual energy densities vary throughout the evolution of the universe,
although the overall density remains critical.
 Figure 2. In A the mass-energy budget of the universe today is shown.
Notice that only a small percentage of the known 'stuff' in the universe is
comprised of ordinary baryonic matter; the remainder is the yet-to-be-
fully-detected dark matter and the mysterious dark energy. B shows the
mass-energy budget at the time of decoupling when the CMB photons
last scattered. Notice that at that time there was an appreciable
percentage of the mass-energy in photons and neutrinos, which have
since been diluted away while the overall share of atoms and dark matter
has also gone down.

What is dark energy? All the evidence for dark energy is indirect. However, it is most
likely to be homogeneously distributed throughout the universe, it interacts only
through gravity and, while it makes up about two-thirds of the universe today, its
density is extremely low. The rest is speculation, or Einstein's theory of relativity
requires modification that would not lead to the existence of dark energy to account, for
example, for an accelerating universe.

The Λ, the Greek capital lambda, on the density parameter for dark energy comes from
Einstein. When Einstein applied his General Relativity theory to provide a cosmological
model, he found that it naturally led to an evolving universe. Not even Einstein was
willing to let go of a universe that was the same for all time. To counterbalance the
effect of matter on space-time, he included a cosmological constant, indicated by Λ,
which did exactly that: it countered the dynamic effect of matter to obtain a static
universe. Given a static universe under gravity, the positive pressure due to matter and
radiation would force the universe to collapse, while the negative pressure due to the
cosmological constant would stop that when perfectly balanced; a universe dominated
by a cosmological constant, called a de Sitter universe, would lead to an expanding
universe whose expansion rate accelerated. Later, when there was overwhelming
evidence for an expanding universe, Einstein called the inclusion of the cosmological
constant the 'biggest blunder' of his life; ironically, with the findings of an accelerating
universe (/study/app/12c-ibdp-physics-hl/sid-49-cid-255088/book/the-accelerating-
universe-id-11710), he may have been correct to invoke it after all, though of course for
the wrong reasons. However, this does not explain what it is. The cosmological constant
can be thought of as the energy associated with space itself. As it is associated with the
volume of space, it would not dilute away, even in an expanding universe, unlike the
other energy densities (baryonic matter, dark matter, radiation, neutrino). Eventually the
dark energy will come to dominate the universe, which would then start to accelerate
from its slowing-down phase when it was matter-dominated; see Figures 2A and 2B.
That said, there is currently no theory that describes the cosmological constant or
accounts for its value.

As the cosmological constant is associated with space, whether it contains any matter or
not, one interpretation of it is that it is the vacuum energy. In quantum physics, empty
space is not really empty, nothing; it is filled with short-lived virtual particles
that contribute to the energy density of the universe. Under gravity, the effect of the
vacuum fluctuations is that of a negative pressure and so would accelerate any existing
expansion rate. Alas, when using quantum physics to predict the energy contribution of
these vacuum fluctuations, they are generally off by a factor of 10 , i.e. a 1 followed
120

by a 120 zeros.

Definition
The cosmological constant, indicated by Λ, is a term introduced by Einstein into his
General Relativity theory in order for his cosmological solutions to be static. Its
nature is to provide a cosmic, or gravitational, repulsion to counterbalance the
gravitational attractive forces between matter. It is often used synonymously
with dark energy, which is the energy density that accounts for an accelerating
universe that has a flat spatial geometry.

The fact remains that the energy density of the universe requires both dark energy and
dark matter (see Figure 2A), and so the standard model of cosmology includes both and
is referred to as the Lambda-CDM, or Λ -CDM model, where CDM stands for cold
dark matter; the cold refers to its speed, which is much less than the speed of light.
There are various theories with properties that would lead to an accelerating universe.
However, it is fair to say that to date, no existing theory has been experimentally
verified, has made unique predictions consistent with observations or has otherwise
been unanimously accepted by the physics community. The nature of dark energy is
possibly the least well-understood question in physics, and yet one of cosmological
proportions.

Definition
The Λ -CDM cosmological model refers to a dynamic cosmological, i.e. Big Bang,
model in which the mass and energy contains dark energy (Λ) and cold dark matter
(CDM).