2007/04/30 by Lawrence M. Krauss, Robert J. Scherrer
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10714-007-0472-9
published as Gen.Rel.Grav.39:1545-1550,2007; Int.J.Mod.Phys.D17:685-690,2008 · 5th prize 2007 Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition, to appear, GRG October 2007; typos corrected; references updated
arxiv created 2007/06/27 · openalex publication_date 2007/06/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We demonstrate that as we extrapolate the current ΛCDM universe forward in time, all evidence of the Hubble expansion will disappear, so that observers in our “island universe” will be fundamentally incapable of determining the true nature of the universe, including the existence of the highly dominant vacuum energy, the existence of the CMB, and the primordial origin of light elements. With these pillars of the modern Big Bang gone, this epoch will mark the end of cosmology and the return of a static universe. In this sense, the coordinate system appropriate for future observers will perhaps fittingly resemble the static coordinate system in which the de Sitter universe was first presented.