Overview

• A Dark Energy Survey study led by Hoang Nhan Luu uses an axion-based model coupled with a negative cosmological constant to explain current cosmic acceleration and forecast eventual collapse.
• A parallel analysis of DESI data by physicists at Cornell University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University finds the universe’s scale will peak at 69% of its current size in 7 billion years with collapse by around 19.5 billion years.
• Researchers fitted their theory to supernovae type Ia observations, gravitational lensing measurements and galaxy distribution maps to detect a gradual weakening of dark energy’s repulsive force.
• The model projects that once expansion halts in about 10 billion years, gravity driven by a negative constant will dominate and pull matter into a singular Big Crunch.
• These findings challenge the prevailing Big Freeze scenario by suggesting dark energy may consist of axion particles whose influence wanes, reversing long-term cosmic expansion.