The age of the Universe has been recalculated: it has changed in more than a billion years



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A study led by physicists at the University of Oregon is redesigning a distance calculation technique developed based on empirical observations.

Using the known distances of 50 galaxies from Earth to refine calculations for the Hubble constant, a research team led by astronomers at the University of Oregon re-estimated the age of the universe at 12.6 billion years.

The estimate of the date of the Big Bang (DS) that created the universe is based on mathematical and computer models, using estimates of the distances of the oldest stars, the behavior of galaxies, and the expansion rate of the universe. Basically, it calculates how long it would take for all the objects to go back to the beginning.

Central to determining the date is the Hubble constant, named after Edwin Hubble, who first calculated the expansion rate of the Universe in 1929. Another recently used technique is the measurement of residual radiation DS. Such a “universe” marks the dimples and meanders of space-time – the image of the cosmic microwave background (CMF) – and reflects the early conditions of the Universe, which are defined by the Hubble constant.

Photo from ESA / Planck telescope captures the microwave background of the Universe

Photo from ESA / Planck telescope captures the microwave background of the Universe

However, the results obtained with these methods vary, said James Schombert, a professor of physics at the University of Oregon. In an article published in the Astronomical Journal in July this year, he and his colleagues reveal calculations based on a new method of measuring distance independent of the Hubble constant, the Barionic Tully-Fisher relationship.

“The problem of measuring distance is known to be incredibly complex, as the distances between galaxies are huge and the signs by which distances can be measured are fuzzy and difficult to calibrate,” Schombert explained.

Schombert’s team used the Tully-Fisher relationship as reference points using well-defined distances between 50 galaxies and estimated distances to 95 other galaxies from these distances. The head of the research team stressed that the universe is described by equations expressed in sequences of mathematical models. The new method more accurately takes into account the mass of galaxies and rotational deviations of galaxies and converts those equations into numbers such as age and expansion rate.

The value of the Hubble constant, an indicator of the expansion rate of the universe, established by his team is 75.1 ± 2.3 kilometers per second per megaparsec. Megaparsec, a unit of measure widely used in spatial measurements, equals one million parsecs. Parsek equals approximately 3.3 light years.

The team writes that all Hubble constant values ​​less than 70 can be rejected with 95 percent confidence.

The traditional measurement technique used in the last 50 years has established the value of H₀ at 75, but the KMF background suggests that it should be 67. The result obtained by the KMF analysis, although it is based on different assumptions and computer models, also It should be the same, he says.

“The tension in this area is due to the fact that these evaluations do not coincide. This difference is much greater than the errors of observation and caused considerable friction in the community of cosmologists, ”says J. Schombert.

In 2013, calculations based on observations from NASA’s microwave anisotropy probe estimated the age of the Universe to be 13.77 billion years. Since then, this number has been used in the standard cosmological model of the Big Bang. Based on the different values ​​of the Hubble constant obtained by different methods, the age of the Universe is between 12 billion and 14.5 billion years.

The new study, based in part on observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope, adds a new way to calculate the Hubble constant by providing a completely empirical method for measuring distances to galaxies using direct observations, Schombert emphasized.

“The result we have obtained is close to the highest values ​​of the different schools of cosmology, which shows that our understanding of the physics of the universe is not complete, and new physics should be expected in the future,” he said.



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