The Expanding Universe Trouble

Abstract

The Lambda Cold Dark Matter model (ΛCDM) is the current standard model of cosmology, which specifies the evolution of the observable Universe. Since the early 20th Century, astronomers have been aware that the Universe is expanding, but towards the end of this century, cosmologists noted that this expansion is accelerating possibly due to an antigravity force called the dark energy. The nature and the source of dark energy remains a major unsolved problem in modern astronomy that requires resolution. The expansion rate of the Universe or (Hubble constant) gives us the history of our Universe from singularity to the present time and on in the future. There exist different methods of Hubble measurement, with each giving different results for the expansion rate of the Universe. The ongoing research is aimed at gaining insight into the different methods of measuring the Hubble expansion with an objective to settle the raging controversy in different Hubble values. In this research project, the objectives were: to study how cosmological theories, explain the expanding Universe, to understand the idea of nature, history, and the end of the Universe, to explore the historical beginning of the Universe and to evaluate the expansion rate of the Universe. It was found out that measuring the expansion rate, i.e., Hubble constant aids in determining the age of the universe calculated. However, earlier estimates of the expansion by Edwin Hubble's suggested that the Earth and the Sun were older than the universe. Hubble, therefore, concluded that the redshift phenomenon was an unknown property of space and not a measurement of true space velocity. Astronomers later realized that redshift was a consequence of the expansion of space itself, as predicted in Einstein's theory of special relativity. The study proposes that more studies should be conducted to resolve the problem of the nature and the source of dark energy.