Far in the future, once dark energy has ripped even atoms apart, new structures may yet arise from the ashes of destruction
There's a lone ray of hope in one of the most calamitous and violent views of our cosmos's future. Even after dark energy - the mysterious entity speeding the universe's expansion - has ripped up galaxies, planets and atoms, there can be revival.
A new model for the future of the universe, known as the "quasi rip", proposes that new structures can rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes, offering a form of cosmic reincarnation. "Our universe has a chance to be rebuilt from the ashes after the terrible rip," says Hao Wei of the Beijing Institute of Technology in China, the leader of the team behind the quasi-rip idea. The first glimmer of a possible revival after cosmic ripping, the idea may comfort anyone spooked by the prospect of our universe ending forever.
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