Humanity is able to answer questions of the Universe

The expansion of the universe is something known since 1929 . Edwin Hubble showed, but this phenomenon is a discovery is accelerated by three American scientists , who thus won the Nobe Prize in Physics l 2011. The discovery of Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt, emphasizes the search for components, especially energy and dark matter , whose presence in 96 percent of the Cosmos is inferred, but has not been detected directly, noted experts at a symposium on the subject, held at the Institute of Physics ( IF) of the UNAM. Cosmologists estimate that the universe is formed by 73 percent dark energy, by 23 percent dark matter, and four per cent, of matter and energy visible with telescopes and other astronomical equipment. They also claim that the two dark components are related to the acceleration. If only matter and radiation, the process would not, said Vladimir Avila Reese, a researcher at the Institute of Astronomy (IA) .

Mysterious components

to study the unknown elements, scientists include the "cosmological constant" , a concept introduced by Albert Einstein in his equations of general relativity to model the universe , which the German physicist considered a static and spherically symmetric. According to the theory Einstein, the repulsive effect (or antigravity) of the cosmological constant compensates the gravitational tendency to collapse that would occur in the static space. At the time when Hubble proved that the universe was expanding , Einstein thought he was mistaken, but it turned out that the cosmological constant gives coherence to general relativity. The first is part of the dark energy, the Macorra Axel said, IF researcher and head of the Advanced Institute of Cosmology . still not known what are the energy and dark matter, but is found in its effects, including the expansion. "It's like gravity, we can not see, but we feel the blow to fall off" , he said. He added that the matter in this frame of mind is attractive to gravity, while the energy in that tone is repulsive, because the pressure is negative and functions as an anti-gravitational force. The acceleration may be due to dark energy, the modification of general relativity or local effects. There are three options open to be investigated, he said.

Measurement supernovae SN1a

To demonstrate the accelerated expansion, the winners of the Nobel Prize in physics studied a type of stars in agony, the supernova SN1a, which measured the distance against the speed of the universe. In separate groups, Saul Perlmutter, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, did his work as leader of the Supernova Cosmology Project, which are attached about 50 scientists. Meanwhile, Brian Schmidt, a professor at Australian National University, Weston Creek, did her research at the head of the High-Z Supernova Research Team, which owns about 30 experts, and in which Adam Riess is a key, although he lives in Baltimore, where he works at Johns Hopkins. "The SN1a are not as abundant, but between the 1980 and 2008, measured 500 supernovae, which shows the acceleration, " said Avila Reese.

The path of gamma rays

along a path different from the agony that his final explosion provide data , Avila Reese scanning from the Institute of Astronomy at UNAM path gamma-ray bursts (EGR), which used as "cosmic lighthouses."

They are the most energy of the universe. violent processes occur, for example, if a big star (30 to 60 times more massive than the Sun) operates at death.

Together with colleagues from the Astronomical Observatory Brera, Italy, and colleagues, try to scan the farthest space. With the use of supernovae as distance indicators SN1a have been able to study epochs corresponding to less than half the current age of the universe, estimated at 13 000 700 million years. In contrast, the use of "cosmic fog" of gamma-rays can be detected at distances greater than SN1a, have been able to go further and determine the expansion history up very early, less than tenth of its present age. In this way, the researcher seeks greater precision about the process and more data from its mysterious constituents. Axel considered the butch currently experiencing a "golden age" of cosmology. "Humanity has never before been at such an exciting, with the ability to answer fundamental questions, " he said.