Latest news with #Szapudi
Time of India
21-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Is the universe gently twirling? Scientists say the universe could be completing one rotation in nearly 500 billion years
The universe is a place of mind-bending mysteries and vast, ancient expanse that is still not fully understood. Our cosmos never ceases to surprise us, be it the Big Bang, black holes, dark matter, or the accelerating expansion of space. There have been decades of research and advanced technologies like the James Webb Space Telescope, which have been constantly researching this, but still, the astronomers have some fundamental questions about the universe's structure and behaviour remaining in their bag. Now, a new study from the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy has probably brought us one step closer to resolving some unknown mysteries about the universe. A Universe that spins? In a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astrophysicist István Szapudi and his team suggest that the universe could be slowly rotating, completing one full revolution roughly every 500 billion years . That is very slow and too subtle for current instruments to directly detect, but it could be enough to change the way space behaves on a cosmic scale. The idea comes from a simple observation that everything in the universe spins. Planets, stars, galaxies, and even black holes all rotate. So why not the universe itself? 'To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who famously said, 'Panta Rhei', which means that everything moves, we thought that perhaps Panta Kykloutai – everything turns,' said Szapudi, lead author of the study, as quoted by the University of Hawai'i news release. What is the Hubble Tension? The Hubble tension is a long-standing difference between two different ways of measuring the universe's expansion rate. One method is through using nearby supernovae and galaxies, which gives a higher value than another method that looks at cosmic microwave background radiation from the early universe. These conflicting numbers have confused scientists and led some to suggest that entirely new physics may be needed. But Szapudi's team created a mathematical model that includes a small amount of cosmic rotation, without breaking any known laws of physics. 'Much to our surprise, we found that our model with rotation resolves the paradox without contradicting current astronomical measurements,' Szapudi said. What is practical about the model? What makes this model particularly suitable is that it doesn't require new theories or particles. It fits within standard physics by also offering a novel explanation for a decades-old cosmic puzzle. "It is compatible with other models that assume rotation. Therefore, perhaps, everything really does turn. Or, Panta Kykloutai!' Szapudi added. If this rotating universe theory holds up under further studies, it could be quite a progress in how we understand the cosmos.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Universe may revolve once every 500 billion years — and that could solve a problem that threatened to break cosmology
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble published a paper demonstrating that the universe is expanding. It gave rise to the Hubble constant, the number that describes how fast the universe is expanding. But it eventually created a puzzle, called the Hubble tension, because this cosmic expansion differs depending on what cosmic objects are used to measure it. A new mathematical model could resolve the Hubble tension by assuming the universe rotates. Related: After 2 years in space, the James Webb telescope has broken cosmology. Can it be fixed? The new research, published in March in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that our universe completes one revolution every 500 billion years. This ultraslow rotation could resolve the discrepancy between different measurements of the Hubble constant. "The standard concordance cosmological model has some wrinkles," study co-author István Szapudi, an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, told Live Science in an email. "A slow rotation of the universe could solve the Hubble puzzle." Astronomers measure the universe's rate of expansion in a few ways. One involves looking at supernovas — the explosive deaths of giant stars — and measuring how quickly these supernovas recede. The other method utilizes the cosmic microwave background, the radiation present 380,000 years following the Big Bang. However, these two measurements differ by about 10%. The idea of a rotating universe isn't new; mathematician Kurt Gödel introduced the idea in a 1949 paper published in the journal Reviews of Modern Physics. Other researchers, like Stephen Hawking, have also explored this theory. In the new study, the team applied the rotation to the Hubble tension. Because all celestial objects — including planets, stars, galaxies and black holes — rotate, this behavior naturally extends to the universe as a whole, the study authors proposed. "Much to our surprise, we found that our model with rotation resolves the paradox without contradicting current astronomical measurements," Szapudi said. RELATED STORIES —Scientists may have finally found where the 'missing half' of the universe's matter is hiding —Rare quadruple supernova on our 'cosmic doorstep' will shine brighter than the moon when it blows up in 23 billion years —Scientists discover smallest galaxy ever seen: 'It's like having a perfectly functional human being that's the size of a grain of rice' The proposed glacial speed at which the universe may rotate is too slow to detect, but it would still affect the universe's expansion rate and does not require new physics. However, the model only incorporated some of the physics thought to be at play. "We use Newtonian physics with some input from General Relativity," Szapudi said. "A complete [General Relativity] treatment would be desirable." He also explained that their work assumes the universe is uniform and did not vary in density as it evolved. In future investigations, the team will contrast the rotating-universe model against other cosmological models.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The universe isn't just expanding—it may be spinning
The prevailing consensus in astrophysics is that the universe has spent the past 13-or-so billion years expanding outward in all directions, ever since the Big Bang. It's expanding at this very moment, and will continue to do so until… a number of possible theoretical endings. Meanwhile, the specific rate at which the universe is growing remains a longstanding point of contention known as the 'Hubble tension.' However, there may be a way to finally ease that tension—you just need to put a slight spin on everything. In simplest terms, the rate at which the universe expands on paper doesn't match actual astronomical observations. That speed—called the Hubble Constant—is measured in units of kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc), with a megaparsec measuring about 300,000 light years. The most widely accepted theoretical model, the Lambda/Cold Dark Matter model (ΛCDM), says the universe is growing at 67-68 km/s/Mpc. But what astronomers see through their equipment is a little faster, at about 73 km/s/Mpc. And therein lies the Hubble tension. In a study published in the April issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a team of researchers including experts at the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy argue that introducing a miniscule amount of rotation to standard mathematical model of the universe may provide the way to align both expansion theories.'Much to our surprise, we found that our model with rotation resolves the paradox without contradicting current astronomical measurements,' study co-author and astrophysicist? István Szapudi said in a statement. 'Even better, it is compatible with other models that assume rotation.' In addition to its mathematical compatibility, the concept also doesn't break any of the known laws of physics. The problem is detecting this spin, given just how slowly the universe may be turning. But while it is difficult to discern with current tools, the spin is still fast enough to influence the expansion of space over the eons. Szapudi and their colleagues' new model indicates the universe finishes a single rotation once every 500 billion years—meaning there's still quite a bit of time before the universe completes its first full circuit. 'To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who famously said 'Panta Rhei' (everything moves), we thought that perhaps 'Panta Kykloutai,' everything turns,' said Szapudi. Looking ahead, astronomers hope to construct a full computer model of the universe based in part of their new theory. From there, they will hopefully be able to pinpoint signs of cosmic spinning to search for among the stars.
