Re: Question for Cosmologists

On 1/12/06, Pim van Meurs <pimvanmeurs@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Rich Blinne wrote:
>
> > Note the following story in New Scientist
> > <
> http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8566&feedId=online-news_rss20
> >:
> >
> > Dark energy – the mysterious force that drives the acceleration of the
> > universe – changes over time, controversial new calculations suggest.
> > If true, the work rules out Einstein's notion of a "cosmological
> > constant" and suggests dark energy, which now repels space, once drew
> > it together. [emphasis mine]
>
> But the study has its issues
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/science/12cosmos.html
>
> Moreover, he said, if Dr. Schaefer's analysis is valid, his results
> agree with Einstein's constant, within the measurements' uncertainties.
>
> "It's not a meaningful discrepancy," Dr. Lamb said, adding that a
> statement like Dr. Schaefer's required stronger evidence. "The bottom
> line is the result doesn't show Einstein was right. And it doesn't show
> he was wrong."

Point well taken. This might very well be like when there was the allegation
that the fine structure constant changed with time. My question is
predicated on the assumption that the observations are correct, knowing full
well the results are still very preliminary.
Received on Fri Jan 13 13:24:43 2006