But apparently there was something that was causing the universe to expand at a much faster rate, and this force was named “dark energy.”
Recently, it was discovered that the acceleration of the universe accelerated significantly about six billion years after the Big Bang.
According to the leading model of the universe called Lambda CDM, in the push and pull between matter and dark energy, dark energy clearly seems to have the upper hand.
Under this model, the accelerating expansion of the universe is driven by what is called the “cosmological constant”, which is closely linked to dark energy.
DESI director Michael Levy said that so far, early results from the instrument were showing “in basic agreement with our best models of the universe.”
“But we're also seeing some potentially interesting differences that may indicate that dark energy is evolving over time,” Levy said in a statement.
In other words, the data “shows that the cosmological constant lambda is not actually a constant,” because dark energy would exhibit “dynamic” and changing behavior, De Mattia said.
