A COSMOS MADE OF STRING.

The article focuses on recent hints from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) data suggesting that dark energy may be weakening over cosmic time, a finding that could have significant implications for cosmology and fundamental physics. This potential decay of dark energy supports alternat...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:New Scientist Vol. 269; no. 3585; pp. 36 - 38
Autor principal: Cossins, Daniel
Formato: Journal Article
Publicado: New Scientist Ltd. 3/7/2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The article focuses on recent hints from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) data suggesting that dark energy may be weakening over cosmic time, a finding that could have significant implications for cosmology and fundamental physics. This potential decay of dark energy supports alternative cosmological models such as Paul Steinhardt’s cyclic universe, which requires evolving dark energy to explain a universe that expands and contracts repeatedly. Additionally, the data aligns with predictions from string theory-based models developed by Cumrun Vafa and colleagues, which propose that dark energy changes due to dynamics in a hidden extra spatial dimension. While these findings do not constitute definitive evidence for either cyclic cosmology or string theory, they motivate further investigation into evolving dark energy and its role in the universe’s fate and the underlying structure of space-time.