Studying the history of space on a large set of distant active galaxies observed with the help of the European Space Agency XMM-Newton space telescope, a group of astronomers found that the early expansion of the Universe might not fit into the framework of the standard cosmological model.
According to one of the most popular scientific scenarios today, our Universe contains only a few percent of ordinary matter. One quarter of the cosmos consists of elusive dark matter, which we feel gravitationally, but cannot be observed, and the rest consists of even more mysterious dark energy, which is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the Universe.
Scientists are well able to measure the rate of expansion of space-time in the period after 380,000 years after the Big Bang – this is what observational radiation observations obtained using the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite — as well as in the Local Universe, from observations of supernova explosions and clusters of galaxies. In a new study, a team of astronomers led by Guido Risalti from the University of Florence, Italy, points to other sources that also allow us to trace the change in the rate of expansion of the Universe – quasars.
By comparing the X-ray and UV brightness of a number of distant quasars, the Risalti team was able to find the distances to these quasars and measure the rate of expansion of the Universe with their help. According to the team, the data indicate a discrepancy with the standard cosmological model and suggest the need to introduce additional parameters to reconcile the observational data with the theory.
One possible solution is dark energy, whose density increases with time.
-Risalti
Active galaxies point to a new physics in the expansion of the universe
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