New Theory Nixes "Dark Energy": Says Time is Disappearing from the Universe

[Jeroen]

New Theory Nixes "Dark Energy": Says Time is Disappearing from the Universe

Remember a little thing called the space-time continuum? Well what if the time part of the equation was literally running out? New evidence is suggesting that time is slowly disappearing from our universe, and will one day vanish completely. This radical new theory may explain a cosmological mystery that has baffled scientists for years.

Scientists previously have measured the light from distant exploding stars to show that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. They assumed that these supernovae are spreading apart faster as the universe ages. Physicists also assumed that a kind of anti-gravitational force must be driving the galaxies apart, and started to call this unidentified force "dark energy".

< snip >

"Our calculations show that we would think that the expansion of the universe is accelerating," says Prof Senovilla. The theory bases it’s idea on one particular variant of superstring theory, in which our universe is confined to the surface of a membrane, or brane, floating in a higher-dimensional space, known as the "bulk". In billions of years, time would cease to be time altogether.

"Then everything will be frozen, like a snapshot of one instant, forever," Senovilla told New Scientist magazine. "Our planet will be long gone by then."

Though radical and in many way unprecedented, these ideas are not without support. Gary Gibbons, a cosmologist at Cambridge University, say the concept has merit. "We believe that time emerged during the Big Bang, and if time can emerge, it can also disappear - that's just the reverse effect."

More at:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/09/is-time-slowly-disappearin.html

[ixion]

1. "time would cease to be time altogether"

Interesting.

[roguevalley]

28. I lurv this stuff. thank you so much for this article.

[cliffordu]

2. I feel seriesly screwn.

[brooklynite]

3. So, no point in renewing my magazine subscriptions?

[KansDem]

7. Ha! What are the credit-card companies going to do about "late fees?"

Dear Valued Cardholder

Due to the absence of time, we will not be requiring a late fee this month...

[KansDem]

4. I've often wondered what existed before the Big Bang...

We believe that time emerged during the Big Bang, and if time can emerge, it can also disappear - that's just the reverse effect.

Probably the same thing that will exist during the "Big Freeze"--Then everything will be frozen, like a snapshot of one instant, forever.

oops! I used the word "during" which suggests the passing of time. How could one measure time in a universe of no time?

[pokercat999]

5. From the article:

"Then everything will be frozen"

Like a giant snow cone? Or maybe a huge bowl of ice cream.

Interesting, but useless information, at least for me at this time. Who knows, I may take up writing bad science fiction, but then again I'm running out of time......at least that's the theory.

[angstlessk]

6. It's THIS kinda science that makes me wish I believed in god!

I understand it will be long past earth's demise, it is still a scary scenario! I dreamed the earth came to an end a couple of nights ago and it felt freaky even just in a dream, I could not imagine, what a sentient being would feel as their planet began to fall apart. Of course for me TIME is just the opposite, it is speeding up..the older I get the longer it takes to accomplish ANYTHING...and to imagine 'one more hour' to stay outside and play seemed like 'forever' many years ago.

[Poll_Blind]

8. So time was the fastest directly after the big bang, then? Wonder what the difference is between...

...then and now. Can we get a "Time till Time Runs Out" clock in Times Square? I hear the last few minutes will be a bitch.

Does this affect all universes equally? (I doubt it) Would humanity choose to fuel our universe by sucking the time from another universe, if we could? What if there were polar bears and puppies in that other universe? What if we're the universe that's being sucked dry? Super-massive black holes at the centers of galaxies merely "oil wells" to another dimension?

Also, should banks be cutting me an even better deal on my certificates of deposit- because the longer I wait to cash them in, the less time I'll actually have to spend my money!

Paging Ed Whitten! Desperately paging Ed Whitten!

PB

[jfkraus]

12. What about Republican opposite universe?

Is there time actually slowing down? Maybe that's why they are batshit crazy?

[Poll_Blind]

13. Dude, I think they're sucking our time into their universe through black holes.

Comes out of a "White Hole" in their universe which, I'm sure, they like the sound of.

PB

[izquierdista]

14. Hey, we all slow down when we get older

Even universes. Maybe that's the one constant thing.

[Poll_Blind]

15. Not that we'd survive it but I'd bet you if our universe got another "membrane bump" it would...

..."give us the gas", as it were. Maybe just a nudge, the last postulated 'brane bump was what caused the big bang in the first place! There's always a viagra...

PB

[rosesaylavee]

9. Hope I'm sitting next to someone I like when that happens.

[Poll_Blind]

10. My luck, Time would finally run out when I'm sitting behind Fart Lady on the downtown bus.

I guess, at least, the frozen mask of fear I wear would be immortalized for all time but, in true Gangsta style, I doan wanna go out like that!

PB

[arikara]

11. I think this is already manifesting itself

in how time is speeding up. I can't get anything done anymore, there just isn't enough time. Has anyone else noticed how fast everything is flying by?

[damntexdem]

16. Quick, before it's all depleted, let's start a movement to Save Time!

Come on -- we only have a few billion years! Let's get cracking!

[knitter4democracy]

17. Interesting from a faith point of view, too.

We say that, in God and Heaven, there is no time. So, when the Second Coming happens, there will no longer be time, as it will be Heaven coming to Earth. It's an interesting juxtaposition.

[phantom power]

18. "our solitary time dimension is slowly turning into a new space dimension."

Huh.

[gaspee]

19. Thinking about stuff like

What holds the Universe in or together, makes my brain hurt

[WheelWalker]

20. Seems to me like time is merely the perceived sequence of events, and requires an observer.

Spinning Wheel, spinning 'round.

[DavidDvorkin]

21. These crazy scientists must be stopped!

Their mad ideas will destroy us all!

[peace13]

22. I better rush out and tell my kitties.

They don't seem to worry about time at all. It is so funny what we humans fret and worry about.

[Poll_Blind]

27. So true! n/t

PB

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

23. Interesting!

There's an article in the recent Scientific American which delves into dark matter and dark energy. They both ended up seeming like "place-holder" concepts to me, markers which just indicated where something needed to fill the gaps between predictions and observations. They reminded me of the comments I'd read about string theroy, stating that they can't do the actual math for the theory, but they can do the math which suggests what the actual math should be. I'm glad there are other ideas being examined.

Hmm. If time is slowing down, the speed of light is no longer a constant. Right? It seems like a constant to us, insofar as we're trapped in the slowing time. So, relatively speaking it's still a constant, but it changes as time itself changes. Ooh, there are science fiction stories to be told! :D

[jgraz]

24. Does this mean we'll never find out how Lost ends?

:shrug:

[Poll_Blind]

25. The good news is: You WILL. The bad news is: Time as we know it will...

...cease to exist in our Universe just after you realize that the loose ends have not been tied up in the series finale and that the eventual movie which will promise to do just that, won't.

The mask of horror and disappointment you wear will last (from an extra-universal observer's standpoint) an eternity. The last thought on your mind and the minds of millions of others will be to angrily visit any of the various Lost forums or possibly the JumpTheShark website. Due to collisions with other extra-universal membranes between our universe and others, time may briefly be restarted for (collectively) a series of minutes. Absolutely unaware what those precious minutes represent after the credits roll and segue into the first commercial after the show (for the movie tie-in), you will fritter away that time staring at 404 errors from overloaded fan websites instead of tightly hugging friends and loved ones.

Because of quantum entanglement the end of time as we know it is intimately tied to American television series whose writers throw more twists into a series' plotlines to keep a show interesting and keep viewership up.

Knowing those immutable laws and inter-relations in our universe, Ultimate Peril was avoided after the season finales of both Twin Peaks and The X-Files.

If not for Lost, it's likely only a matter beating mounting odds of successive die rolls.

I tried to paste in a smiley emoticon but they all burst into flames.

PB

[BadgerKid]

26. Sounds vaguely like entropy, arrow of time, heat death of universe. n/t

[Odin2005]

29. OK, my head hurts, now!