This final sentence in my recent post (quoted piece below) might possibly support it to some degree. However, it isn’t suggesting that matter will be torn apart by the expansion, but rather through loss of energy as a result of the expansion and other factors (proton decay, Hawking Radiation(black holes), etc). But then, it just might be that matter comes to a ‘halt’ in the absence of energy, whatever that precisely means, not be ripped apart.
“Ultimately, if the universe reaches a state in which the temperature approaches a uniform value, no further work will be possible, resulting in a final heat death of the universe.[6]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_an_expanding_universe
Heat death of the universe
“The heat death of the universe is a suggested ultimate fate of the universe, in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain processes that consume energy (including computation and life). Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that temperature differences or other process may no longer be exploited to perform work. In the language of physics, this is when the universe reaches thermodynamic equilibrium (maximum entropy). The hypothesis of heat death stems from the ideas of William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who in the 1850s took the theory of heat as mechanical energy loss in nature (as embodied in the first two laws of thermodynamics) and extrapolated it to larger processes on a universal scale.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe
google big rip, it is an interesting read.
This is interesting... It’s saying that all stars will eventually collapse into black holes, as they use up their energy supply and can no longer hold off the effects of gravity. Then, if Hawking is right, they would ultimately vanish via Hawking Radiation.
“If the proton does not decay, stellar-mass objects will still become black holes, but more slowly. The following timeline assumes that proton decay does not take place.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_an_expanding_universe#Future_without_proton_decay
If protons do not decay as described above:
“In the event the proton does not decay as described above, the Degenerate Era will last longer, and will overlap the Black Hole Era. In a timescale of approximately 10^65 years, apparently rigid objects such as rocks will be able to rearrange their atoms and molecules via quantum tunnelling, behaving as a liquid does, but more slowly.[10] However, the proton is still expected to decay, for example via processes involving virtual black holes, or other higher-order processes, with a half-life of under 10^200 years.[3], §IVF For example, under the Standard Model, groups of 2 or more nucleons are theoretically unstable because chiral anomaly allows processes that change baryon number by a multiple of 3.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_an_expanding_universe#Future_without_proton_decay