What is the origin of dark energy? Scientists reach possible answer

Astronomers have possibly found evidence that dark energy — associated with accelerating the expansion of our universe — could also be related with the mysterious black holes.

About 70% of our universe roughly comprises of dark energy and is believed to have born after the Big Bang, around 13.8 billion years ago, though the origin of the force remains unclear, according to LiveScience.

Recently, some astronomers proposed a theory that dark energy could have emerged from the core of gigantic dark abyss called the black holes while others disagreed with the theory.

But now a new research published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics claimed to have found a relation between the two phenomena and it is a match between the rise in density of dark energy and the growing weight of black holes as the universe continues to age with time.

"If you ask yourself the question, 'Where in the later universe do we see gravity as strong as it was at the beginning of the universe?' the answer is at the centre of black holes," study co-author Gregory Tarle said in a statement.

"It's possible that what happened during inflation runs in reverse, the matter of a massive star becomes dark energy again during gravitational collapse — like a little Big Bang played in reverse,” he added.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) was used by the researchers to search for clues that dark energy may be connected to black holes.

DESI, mounted on the Nicholas U Mayall four-metre Telescope in Arizona, tracks and pinpoints positions of millions of galaxies monthly to determine how the universe expanded to what it is today.

The instrument enabled astronomers to deduce the density of dark energy throughout the universe’s life by observing the speed at which the cosmos stretched outward.

By comparing the data of dark energy with the growth of black holes at different stages of the life of the universe, the researchers came to a conclusion.

"The two phenomena were consistent with each other — as new black holes were made in the deaths of massive stars, the amount of dark energy in the universe increased in the right way," co-author Duncan Farrah stated.

"This makes it more plausible that black holes are the source of dark energy,” she added.

Despite this, astronomers say that much more data and observations from DESI and other experiments are needed to form a final conclusion regarding the origin of dark energy.

"Fundamentally, whether black holes are dark energy, coupled to the universe they inhabit, has ceased to be just a theoretical question," Tarle said.

"This is an experimental question now,” he added.