What force is creating new spacetime (and at an accelerating pace)?

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I recently learned that the expansion of the universe means that everything is moving further away from everything else as new spacetime is fabricated between objects (rather than the universe’s edges expanding).

What I can’t find, is the process by which this expansion is happening. If the vacuum of space is considered spacetime, then spacetime can be devoid of all energy. So how does it get made if energy cannot be lost in its creation?

In: Physics

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Dark energy. What is dark energy you ask? The definition of dark energy is “Whatever it is that is causing the universe to expand.”

Anonymous 0 Comments

Dark energy is what causes the expansion. We aren’t completely sure what dark energy is. It could be a result of how gravity works or it could be its own new force. Either way from what we can tell is empty space contains dark energy at a constant energy density. This means as new space is created so is new dark energy. This new space and dark energy also contribute to the expansion giving a run away effect that we see today.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s the mysterious and kind of poorly named “Dark Energy”. It was originally a byproduct of Einstein’s GR equations that we thought was just a quirk of the mathematics. Then, Edwin Hubble found that everything was moving away from us, so it turned out there was a physical consequence of it. There’s not much well known about it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m interested in this, too. But your comment said “spacetime has no energy” and also “how is it created without an energy loss”.

It would seem that since it can be devoid of energy, it doesn’t cost energy to create. I’m assuming it doesn’t act like matter, where you would “create” more of it.

Again, I have no clue. I’m waiting on the responses.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I don’t think space is being created. If it were being created then there must be a mechanism responsible (dark energy, dark matter?). I think it is just being stretched out. That is where the “Big Rip” theory comes in.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Spacetime is not devoid of energy.

It is unproven why we are experiencing the current rapidity of expansion. We know for sure that it was not caused (in whole) by the rapid expansion that occurred near the beginning of the universe.

Particles and potential particles can come and go in spacetime without violating the conservation of charge as long as they are in equilibrium.

Try not to think of the universe in Euclidian terms (there are no edges.) Imagine, instead, a balloon; it expands in all directions. You don’t necessarily have to blow into it to get it to expand; just heat it up.

Get Hawking’s “The Universe in a Nutshell” a lot of knowledge, light on the math (but sound.)