In 1998 two supernova teams found distant Type Ia explosions dimmer than a decelerating universe allows, and the paradoxical conclusion that expansion is speeding up took the 2011 Nobel Prize. The microwave background and large-scale structure pin whatever drives that acceleration at roughly 68% of the total energy budget. Its nature stays open: if it is vacuum energy, the quantum calculation misses the observed value by something like a factor of 10¹²⁰. Quintessence, a dynamical field with w different from −1, is being searched for, with nothing decisive yet.
In 1998 two supernova teams found distant Type Ia explosions dimmer than a decelerating universe allows, and the paradoxical conclusion that expansion is speeding up took the 2011 Nobel Prize. The microwave background and large-scale structure pin whatever drives that acceleration at roughly 68% of the total energy budget. Its nature stays open: if it is vacuum energy, the quantum calculation misses the observed value by something like a factor of 10¹²⁰. Quintessence, a dynamical field with w different from −1, is being searched for, with nothing decisive yet.
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