Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Dynamical Dark Energy Discovered

By Kenny Walter | October 3, 2017

A team of astronomers led by the University of Portsmouth have found evidence of dynamical dark energy.

“We are excited to see that current observations are able to probe the dynamics of dark energy at this level and we hope that future observations will confirm what we see today,” lead author of the study Professor Gong-Bo Zhao, from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) at the University of Portsmouth and the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), said in a statement.

Dark energy is represented by its Equation of State (EoS)—the ratio of pressure and energy density of dark energy.

In the traditional Lambda-Cold Dark Matter model, dark energy is essentially the cosmological constant—the vacuum energy with a constant EoS of -1. In this model dark energy has no dynamical features.

A team within the SDSS-III (BOSS) collaboration performed a successful measurement of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) at multiple cosmic epochs with a high precision in 2016.

Based on this measurement—and a method developed by Zhao for dark energy studies— the researchers found evidence of dynamical dark energy at a significance level of 3.5 sigma. This suggests that the nature of dark energy may not be the vacuum energy, but some kind of dynamical field, particularly for the quintom model of dark energy whose EoS varies with time and crosses the -1 boundary during evolution.

The findings shed light on the nature of dark energy, which may not be the cosmological constant introduced by Albert Einstein more than a century ago.

“Since its discovery at the end of last century, dark energy has been a riddle wrapped in an enigma,” Co-author Professor Bob Nichol, Director of the ICG, said in a statement. “We are all desperate to gain some greater insight into its characteristics and origin.

“Such work helps us make progress in solving this 21st Century mystery.”

The next step will be to confirm the dynamics of dark energy by next-generation astronomical surveys.

 

Related Articles Read More >

Sonar Screen For Submarines And Ships. Radar Sonar With Object On Map. Futuristic HUD Navigation monitor
Pentagon places big bets on frontier AI, quantum sensing and next-gen avionics in nearly $3 billion in defense technology contracts 
2025 R&D layoffs tracker hits 132,075 as Amazon CEO signals AI will cut more jobs
Trump lifts 50-year supersonic ban, paving way for 3.5-hour New York–London trips
Europa’s lost decade: What happens to $5 billion‑plus in planetary R&D when missions die?
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE