Scientists at the Uppsala University in Sweden has devised a new model of the universe that might finally solve the mystery of dark energy.

The Mystery Of Dark Energy

Back in the 90s, scientists discovered that the universe continues to expand. It was initially assumed that, at some point, the expansion will slow down.

While the slowing down of the expansion was never actually observed, theoretically, gravity will pull matter together. Eventually, the expansion of the universe has to slow down.

However, when the Hubble Space Telescope came along, scientists discovered that the expansion of the universe was not slowing down; it has been accelerating. The explanation was that space is not empty; it is made up of 68 percent dark energy that pushes the universe to continue expanding.

To this day, dark energy remains to be the biggest mysteries of the universe. Scientists hoped that the string theory, which posits that all matter consists of vibrating string-like entities. The theory also implies additional spatial dimensions than the three that are visible.

Several models have been presented that give rise to dark energy. However, researchers have come out to assert that none of these models are workable.

The Universe On An Expanding Buble In An Extra Dimension

So, Souvik Banerjee and his colleagues at the Uppsala University proposed a new model with dark energy. In the paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team claimed that the universe is riding on the edge of an expanding bubble within an extra dimension. The authors also demonstrated how the new model works within the framework of the string theory.

"The whole Universe is accommodated on the edge of this expanding bubble," the researchers wrote in a news release. "All existing matter in the Universe corresponds to the ends of strings that extend out into the extra dimension."

In addition, the new model opens up the possibility of the existence of other universes that also sit on their own bubbles.

"It is conceivable that there are more bubbles than ours, corresponding to other universes," the researchers added.

The scientists at Uppsala University hopes that their new model of the universe, which paints a different picture of its creation and its future, will pave the way for methods to test the string theory one day.