Quote:
Originally Posted by Robh
But just how much more complicated are things going to get? If dark energy exists, its nature is going to be even more elusive than dark matter.
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Hi Rob;
Your questions got me thinking ..
1. How complicated are things going to get?:
My question is: Why would you expect there to be a limit to complexity in nature ?
Perhaps the question could be interpreted as how complicated is our explanation for the expansion of the universe going to get ? This broadens the discussion and gets away from the cynicism associate with 'Things' of Darkness (ie: DM and DE).
2. If dark energy exists:
Dark Energy is a hypothesis. Dark matter and dark energy also evolved from observation.
The theoretical aspects are derived from mainstream theory and are not invented.
Dark energy has it's origins in quantum field theory. It attempts to explain the cosmological constant as a vacuum energy fluctuation.
Neither dark matter nor dark energy, involves "new" physics. It's an increasing crossover of QFT into cosmology and celestial mechanics.
(As an aside: the fundamental problem with dark matter is that if it does exist it will impact on the Standard Model in particle physics. If dark matter turns out to being ordinary matter observed at a different wavelength then no such problem exists, for example).
The hypothesis of Dark Energy doesn't rule out other explanations. If these gain momentum into the future, we may never have to explain the nature of Dark Energy.
Also, regardless of whether the energy is Dark or not, we still have difficultly in explaining the true nature of 'ordinary' energy. We can explain its behaviours, but can we truly explain its fundamental mechanisms ? Does normal energy really exist, or are we only observing its effects and state changes?
(I'm not sure I can answer this question, myself ..
).
Cheers