Physicists Ana Achúcarro and Brian Schmidt, during a ceremony in ... - The Mundo.es

understanding the universe helps us understand our own nature, as claimed by the science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, misunderstanding energy and dark matter, the mysterious ‘cement’ of the universe that accounts for over 95% of this matter is the lack of understanding of ourselves. Brian Schmidt Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011, is in Madrid to show that the more we know the “final destination” of the universe, the closer we are to understand our own fate.

American astrophysicist won the Nobel Prize in 2011 for rescuing an idea that Albert Einstein discarded in his General Theory of Relativity: the existence of a cosmological constant, an energy that counteracts gravity , pushing the opposite way to the pull of gravity. It is believed that this incomprehensible energy that repels light and is impossible to detect, is called dark energy, which in the 90 confirmed the theory of the ‘Hubble constant’ that the universe is constantly expanding . What Schmidt discovered in 1998 is that, contrary to what was thought, not that expansion is slowing, but faster and faster .

“An unknown energy that is ‘pushing’ the force of gravity,” says Schmidt at a press conference prior to the conference ‘The accelerating universe’ of the BBVA Foundation, which has ruled on Tuesday in Madrid. And the antagonistic interaction between these two energy causes the expansion of the Universe . “About 30% of her strip, draws, as we know atoms, while the remaining 70% seem to push, repels the other energy.’s A constant game of attraction and repulsion in the universe. “

Dark energy

Schmidt discussed for years

several very distant supernovae – this is also very old-light emitting much weaker than conventional. The idea developed after consideration was something he himself was about to discard. Its brightness was so weak because the universe was moving faster than thought , not a constant, as previously thought. And the cause of this acceleration is dark energy.

energy remains a mystery, although according to Schmidt are “a brilliant idea to decipher”. And it will increase while the universe expands. Schmidt explains: “Imagine a flexible surface rubber, or rubber, in which there are many stars. When stretching, the stars are separated more and more”. And the space between them, that ‘cement’ of dark energy and dark matter increases. The more you expand the universe, the more amount of dark energy will be created. And the more dark energy, the faster the acceleration of the universe .

One of the greatest discoveries of the twentieth century

This is so because the objects are receding faster the further away they are from each other . This explains why the universe “is likely to expand faster and faster,” said Schmidt. And the more you expand, the closer we are to understand how it formed. The light from distant stars takes so long to reach us that his observation is the observation of them in the past , even the early universe. This means that “ come a time when stop light to reach us land ” sentence.

The idea is not to find answers, but it is increasingly close to it, is the ultimate fate of the universe . Schmidt has discovered that its rate of expansion is accelerating, but will forever or collapse into a ‘Big Crunch’, the theory of ‘Big Crunch’ which holds that the universe will reach a point where slow its expansion and its elements converge on a single point of energy that will explode, is still an enigma.

Schmidt

discovery is, according to Ana Achúcarro, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Leiden, one of the most important twentieth-century astrophysics. Thanks to him, and technological advances such as the VLT (Very Large Telescope, or Extremely Large Telescope) or PLANCK (which recently confirmed the theory of 14,000 million years old the universe), the conception you have the cosmos is in constant renewal .

is that science is, according to Schmidt. “Prediction and constant questioning of existing models.” And of course, the use of the errors. “When you win a Nobel people put you on a pedestal and think we have to be infallible, but is an important part of a scientist making mistakes and force the limits of the possible “, he noted.

“When we pursue these new ideas of the universe, what we are really doing is after what we do not know we do not know “, concludes. That is, in the final analysis, our own existence and rationale.