Does the Universe's Expansion lead to Critical Mass < 1?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the implications of the universe's expansion on its critical mass density, specifically addressing whether the universe remains flat as it expands. Initially, ordinary matter and dark matter account for 0.28 of the critical density, while dark energy contributes 0.72, leading to a total of 1.0 for a flat universe. As the universe expands, the density of ordinary and dark matter remains constant, while dark energy's density remains unchanged, suggesting that the overall density could decrease below 1.0, potentially altering the universe's shape from flat to saddle-shaped.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of cosmological concepts such as critical density and flatness
  • Familiarity with dark energy and its role in the universe
  • Knowledge of mass-energy equivalence principles
  • Basic grasp of the Hubble rate and its implications on cosmic expansion
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the implications of dark energy on cosmic structure and density
  • Explore the mathematical formulation of critical density in cosmology
  • Study the relationship between the Hubble rate and the universe's expansion
  • Investigate the concept of energy conservation in an expanding universe
USEFUL FOR

Astronomers, cosmologists, and physics students interested in the dynamics of the universe's expansion and its implications on cosmic structure and density.

HappyMonster3000
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We understand that for the Universe to be flat, the critical mass of everything that has mass must total an omega of 1.0.

At first, with our lack of knowledge regarding dark energy, we thought that the universe that we detected (ordinary matter and dark matter) did not even add up to a third of this critical amount. Yet, the observable universe was found to be flat.

Enter dark energy. Its corresponding mass (I'm making the assumption that this is due to mass-energy equivalence) is thought to bring up the universe's mass up to the critical density needed for a flat universe.

As the universe expands, there is more total dark energy as the amount of volume increases and the density remains constant. Yet, the amount of ordinary matter and dark matter remain the same.

Therefore, as the universe expands, the total amount of mass per unit volume must be decreasing.

So wouldn't that imply that over time, the density of the universe is decreasing to below a density of 1?


Below is a mathematical interpretation of what I'm getting at:

  • Ordinary Matter: 0.04 of Critical Density
  • Dark Matter: 0.24 of Critical Density
  • Dark Energy: 0.72 of Critical Density
In a flat universe:

(0.04 + 0.24 + 0.72) / 1 = 1.00 Flat Universe

Now, let's say that the universe expands to twice its size:

Ordinary matter (0.04) and dark matter (0.24) still have the same amount of mass, but spread over twice the volume. Only dark energy's density is constant, so its mass increases by the corresponding amount (0.74 * 2):

(0.04 + 0.24 + 0.72 * 2) / 2 = 0.02 + 0.12 + 0.72 = 0.86 Saddle Shaped Universe

Is it possible that as the volume of the universe increases, its density (and hence shape) changes so that it's no longer flat, given that no new ordinary matter or dark matter is added?
 
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A constant ##\Lambda## does not imply a constant ##\Omega_\Lambda##. The critical density changes with time as it depends on the Hubble rate.
 
We should know where the Ω function comes.
\Omega_i=\frac{\rho_i}{\rho_c} where ρc is the critical density (those who gives a flat universe) and ρi is the density of what we're considering (matter, dark energy...).
If the universe is flat, the critical density and the density is the same, so Ω=1.
If we write \Omega=\sum{\Omega_i}=\sum{\rho_i}=\rho and we multiply both sides by the Volume, we get that E(t)=\sum{E(t)_i} where E(t) is the energy (equivalent to the matter). So the volume doesn't modify the equation.
Finally we can ask for the energy to be constant. That's the same as do \frac{dE(t)}{dt}=0=\frac{d}{dt}\sum{E(t)_i}=0→\sum{E(t)_i}=0 so, if the sum of the energies of each part of the universe must be zero (and then is needed to exist some negative energy, that's the dark energy). If this happens, he universe is flat.
 

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