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SUPERNOVAE, DARK ENERGY, and the ACCELERATING
UNIVERSE
Saul Perlmutter, Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory
2003 California Scientist of the Year Co-Recipient
Will the universe last forever, or someday will
it come to an end? Surprisingly, this apparently
philosophical question can be
answered empirically. Light from the cataclysmic
explosions of distant stars -- supernovae --
provides us with natural mile markers across
the vast expanses of space, markers that can
be used to track the past expansion of the universe
and extrapolate its fate. The most recent results
are unsettling, at least to physicists. It appears
that the universe will last forever, and that
its expansion will speed up indefinitely. If
so, some fundamental physics concepts may need
to be revised, and some mysterious "dark energy"--
perhaps Einstein's "cosmological constant" --
may pervade the universe.
This is the first decade
in which we can begin to answer such cosmological
questions with a variety of measurement techniques.
By developing new detector systems and larger
telescopes both on earth and in space we are
opening a new chapter of striking discoveries.
Saul
Perlmutter is an astrophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory and the leader of the Supernova
Cosmology Project, an international collaboration
of research teams from seven countries. Science
Magazine named his measurements of the accelerating
universe the 1998 "Breakthrough of the Year." He
has developed new techniques to discover and
study supernovae, leading to the discovery of
more than 100 supernovae. He is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient
of the American Astronomical Society's Henri
Chretien Award (1996) and the E.O. Lawrence Award
in Physics (2002). A lecturer and author, Perlmutter
has appeared in PBS and BBC cosmology documentaries.
Supernova Cosmology Project Web Site: http://supernova.lbl.gov/ |
