A 'cosmic jerk' that reversed the Universe -

NY Times ^ | October 11, 2003 | Dennis Overbye

[UnklGene]

A 'Cosmic Jerk' That Reversed the Universe

By DENNIS OVERBYE

Published: October 11, 2003

CLEVELAND, Oct. 10 — Astronomers said on Friday that they had determined the time in cosmic history when a mysterious force, "dark energy," began to wrench the universe apart.

Five billion years ago, said Dr. Adam Riess, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the universe experienced a "cosmic jerk." Before then, Dr. Riess said, the combined gravity of the galaxies and everything else in the cosmos was resisting the expansion, slowing it down. Since the jerk, though, the universe has been speeding up.

The results were based on observations by a multinational team of astronomers who used the Hubble Space Telescope to search exploding stars known as Type 1a supernovas, reaching back in time three-quarters of the way to the Big Bang, in which the universe was born. The results should help quell remaining doubts that the expansion of the universe is really accelerating, a strange-sounding notion that has become a pillar of a new and widely accepted model of the universe as being full of mysterious dark matter and even more mysterious dark energy.

"This gives great confidence that we've been on the right track," said Dr. Riess, who announced his results at a meeting here on the Future of Cosmology sponsored by the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve University and the Kavli Institute.

Dr. Lawrence M. Krauss, an astrophysicist at Case Western, called the turnaround from slowing down to speeding up important confirmation.

"The big surprise," Dr. Krauss said, "would have been if it hadn't happened."

Dr. Joseph Lykken, a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, known as Fermilab, in Batavia, Ill., said, "I could go home now and be happy."

Knowing how and when the jerk occurred, astronomers said, was an important step in figuring out just what the dark energy is.

"He gave us information about when the universe hit the gas pedal," said Dr. Michael S. Turner, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago who is director of mathematics and physics at the National Science Foundation. Different theories of dark energy, Dr. Turner said, predict different times for the transition.

"The supernovae have come through," Dr. Wendy L. Freedman, director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, Calif., said. "The whole result could have disappeared," referring to the dark energy acceleration.

A result was also a vindication for Dr. Riess, who was a pivotal member of one of two competing groups, the one led by Dr. Brian P. Schmidt of the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories in Australia. The other team was headed by Dr. Saul Perlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of the University of California, who discovered the cosmic acceleration five years ago. The groups used supernovas to chart the expansion of the universe at different times in the past.

The goal was to measure how much the universe was being slowed by the collective gravity of the cosmos and determine whether the universe would go on forever or recollapse in a "Big Crunch" on one distant day.

The groups found, though, that nearby supernovas looked dimmer than they should, implying that the universe was growing faster than expected, speeding up, under the influence of some form of antigravity — perhaps embedded in the fabric of spacetime itself.

The results were buttressed by studies of radiation left over from the Big Bang that suggested that two-thirds of the mass-energy of the universe resided in this dark energy.

"But there was always a nagging doubt," Dr. Riess told his colleagues today, that dust or some other astrophysical effect was dimming the supernovae, mimicking the effects of acceleration. If that were the case, supernovae even farther away than the ones already observed should be even dimmer.

On the other hand, if it was really an antigravity energy in space, then as space expanded, the push from this dark energy would grow along with it. In the early years of the universe, the dark energy would have been too small to counteract the gravity of the matter in the universe, and the expansion would have initially slowed. After the universe grew big enough, though, the dark energy would dominate, and the universe would start to expand.

Dr. Riess described the difference between the matter, most of which is dark, and dark energy as, "One pulls, the other pushes."

[UnklGene]

I misread 'cosmic' for 'comic' amd thought they were writing about Steve Martin or Jerry Lewis.

[Support Free Republic]

Let's keep the Dem's on the run!
Click the Pic!

[Consort]

[aristotleman]

If this was a Cosmic Jerk, does it mean that black holes are Cosmic A##holes?

[billorites]

Now who you jiving with this cosmic debris?

[DannyTN]

Isaiah 45:12 - I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

[SupplySider]

I thought this would be a Democrat article about Arnold.

[eggman]

I thought it was about Dennis Kucinich. He is a cosmic jerk who is trying to throw America, if not the Universe, into reverse but nobody seems to pay him any attention.

[Mercat]

When did Bush know and how did he know it.

[PaxMacian]

Isaiah 42:5
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

[Hebrews 11:6]

In all, there are eleven separate scriptures which speak specifically about God stretching out the heavens.

[DannyTN]

That's a lot of stretching.

[Junior]

Ping.

[gitmo]

The Cosmic Jerk.

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks for the ping!

Ping :-)

[norwaypinesavage]

"...the universe was growing faster than expected, speeding up, under the influence of some form of antigravity — perhaps embedded in the fabric of spacetime itself."

This is utter nonsense. It proves that the NYT doesn't know anything about science, either.

[longshadow]

ever ex-p--a---n----d-----i------n-------g placemarker

[RadioAstronomer]

You have the most creative placemarkers! :-)

[PatrickHenry]

PING. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[VadeRetro]

You saw "Cosmic Jerk" and thought of your ping list.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up! One of my favorite subjects!!!

[PatrickHenry]

You saw "Cosmic Jerk" and thought of your ping list.

It was the "cosmic" adjective that did it. I've been responding to those email spam ads.

[longshadow]

I've been responding to those email spam ads.

By Jove; I think you've got it!

"Dark-energy; the Viagra™ of the Universe"

Catchy phrase; now all we need to sell it is a spiffy jingle.

[eddie willers]

under the influence of some form of antigravity — perhaps embedded in the fabric of spacetime itself.

Hmmmm.... antigravity.
Cheap propulsion?

[Bernard Marx]

First there was a Gib Gnab, then a Big Bang! Which way should Time be flowing anyhow? I've always said we live life backwards. It makes more sense to start old, wise and as rich as we'll ever be, then revert toward the womb and conception. Think of sowing all those wild oats in your 'old age!'

[fat city]

Since the jerk, though, the universe has been speeding up.

Wow! That explains why my hat blows off when I step outside. Go figure.

[RadioAstronomer]

I don't think so unfortunately. :-(

[Ogmios]

Popped that balloon in a big old hurry, didn't you?

Humph, Some people's Radioastronomers!!

[LibWhacker]

Do we know yet whether it's
ex-p--a---n----d-----i------n-------g
or
e-x-p--a---n-----d--------i-------------n---------------------g
or following some other scheme?

[PatrickHenry]

All right ... someone had to post this:

[MissAmericanPie]

So if dark energy is causing the speeding up and expansion of the universe, doesn't that beg the question of what that expansion is doing to the fabric of the universe?

Would that expansion cause the fabric to become so thin as to not be able to hold the planets up? Thats all we need, a Demoncrat president and falling through holes in the fabric of the Universe because we are too heavy. Time for everybody to go on that diet? =o/

[GreenHornet]

A 'cosmic jerk' that reversed the Universe -

I knew Ted Kennedy was one of the more powerful members of the Senate, but.............

[metacognative]

My God, this is so silly...reminds me of the old religion 'angels on a pinhead' theology. I'M glad I'm not a believer in the New Established Scientism.

[longshadow]

Do we know yet whether it's ex-p--a---n----d-----i------n-------g or e-x-p--a---n-----d--------i-------------n---------------------g

Propably neither; the expansion is most likely exponential (such as a geometric progression). The first one above was an example of an "arithmetic" progression, while your example appears to be Fibbonacci's series, which, off the top of my head, isn't considered exponential....

[AndrewC]

The groups found, though, that nearby supernovas looked dimmer than they should,

What does that do to present distance calculations?

[Porterville]

I guess the experiment needed a little electircal pulse to push it along.. it makes sense... if you believe in God.

[RightWhale]

Would that expansion cause the fabric to become so thin as to not be able to hold the planets up?

It's worse than that. Eventually gravitational ties will be broken, and later even nuclear forces, and eventually even the forces holding subatomic particles together. 22 billion years, tops, to the big rip.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

22 billion years, tops, to the big rip.

Really? Ok, I think I'll have the chocolate cake after all.

[asformeandformyhouse]

A 'cosmic jerk' that reversed the Universe -

Is Al Gore claiming credit for something else.

[AndrewC]

and eventually even the forces holding subatomic particles together.

How do you overcome the color force?

[SGCOS]

22 billion years to the big rip

"Dr. Evil, is it time to bring out the Cosmic Sewing Machine.?"

[AndrewC]

Isa 34:4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Now who you jiving with this cosmic debris?

"Is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?"

[DannyTN]

"and all their host shall fall down"

Now that's heavy!

[RightWhale]

How do you overcome the color force?

Is this another ego cogito joke? I don't know. How do you overcome the color force?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Which way should Time be flowing anyhow?

RiffRaff:
It's astounding;
Time is fleeting;
Madness takes its toll.
But listen closely...

Magenta:
Not for very much longer.

RiffRaff:
I've got to keep control.
I remember doing the time-warp
Drinking those moments when
The Blackness would hit me

RiffRaff:
And the void would be calling...

[JethroHathAWay]

Hi RA. Here is one question that puzzles me.
Is gravity a theory, you always read about "the theory" of gravity.
Is it possible that we on earth don't really understand it?
It works one way on earth, but does that mean it works the same someplace else,like out in space and other places in the universe?

Have you ever run into stuff that might make you think so?
I hope this makes sense. Thankyou.

[LibWhacker]

. . . and later even nuclear forces . . .

It started with a Big Bang and E=mc² ==> sometime near the end there will be a Big, Diffuse Snap, Crackle & Pop.

[MissAmericanPie]

The bible goes into great detail about the foundations of the universe being shaken and the stars appearing to fall. But unless you are interested in that, I'll just button it up.