Does dark energy really exist? Our work identifies cracks in the foundations of today’s cosmological model

According to our best understanding, the universe is expanding – and is doing so at an accelerating rate. This is believed to be caused by something called the “cosmological constant”, which was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity. In recent decades, it has become better known as dark energy, which is believed to make up about 70% of the universe. Crucial to this realisation were studies of Type Ia supernovae – exploding white dwarf stars. These are thought to…