Dark Energy-Filled Black Holes Plus DESI Data Give Neutrino Masses That Make Sense

Data from DESI (shown above) is mapping the large-scale distributions of millions of galaxies throughout the universe. DESI’s measurements also enable new calculations for the mass of the universe’s neutrinos through different lenses provided by different theoretical frameworks. Credit: DESI Collaboration

These are exciting times to explore the largest unanswered questions in physics thanks to high-tech experiments and very precise data. That’s particularly true of dark energy, the name given to the mysterious driver of the universe’s accelerating expansion.

In a report published in the Physical Review Letters, a collaboration of researchers has released new data strengthening the case that dark energy’s influence on the universe—long believed to be constant—is actually changing over cosmic time. The team and external collaborators show how the data can be understood as a signal of matter being converted into dark energy.

The new findings stem from an isolated mountain in southern Arizona called Iolkam Du’ag. Here, the Tohono O’odham Nation stewards Kitt Peak National Observatory, where the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, peers deep into the universe’s past using 5,000 robotic eyes—each focused on a different galaxy every 15 minutes.

(Source: phys.org)