Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Supernovae
taken with the CMB anisotropies constrain us
to a Universe in which the flatness is
confirmed, but 2/3 due to “dark energy” which
is currently accelerating the expansion of
spacetime. This may be related to the original
cause of inflation, or be a “cosmological
constant”. It would be a form of “vacuum
energy” (like an anti-gravity). We do not know
how to calculate it at the moment (off by
10120 – the single worst #!).
Einstein had
put such a force in his equations to keep the Universe static. When Hubble found it was expanding, Einstein said adding the force was his “biggest blunder”. It turns out, saying that may have been his biggest blunder!