Early universe cosmology at the moment appears to be a uniquely positioned field in which we expect both new experimental results as well as fundamental theoretical discoveries since the effects of quantum gravity inevitably becomes important and a complete theory for it in the case of expanding
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Scientific American
Hints of Twisted Light Offer Clues to Dark Energy’s Nature
Cosmologists suggest that an exotic substance called quintessence could be accelerating the Universe’s expansion but the evidence is still tentative
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A map of the Universe’s cosmic microwave background radiation, measured by the Planck space observatory. Credit: ESA
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Cosmologists say that they have uncovered hints of an intriguing twisting in the way that ancient light moves across the Universe, which could offer clues about the nature of dark energy the mysterious force that seems to be pushing the cosmos to expand ever-faster.
They suggest that the twisting of light, which they identified in data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) collected by the Planck space telescope, and the acceleration of the Universe could be produced by a cosmic ‘quintessence’, an exotic substance that pervades the cosmos. Such a discovery would require a major revision of current theories
A Hint Of New Physics In Polarized Radiation From The Early Universe Press Release - Source: KAVLI INSTITUTE FOR THE PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS OF THE UNIVERSE
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As the light of the cosmic microwave background emitted 13.8 billion years ago (left image) travels through the Universe until observed on Earth (right image), the direction in which the electromagnetic wave oscillates (orange line) is rotated by an angle β. The rotation could be caused by dark matter or dark energy interacting with the light of the cosmic microwave background, which changes the patterns of polarization (black lines inside the images). The red and blue regions in the images show hot and cold regions of the cosmic microwave background, respectively. CREDIT Y. Minami / KEK