VISUAL ARCHIVE / IMAGE STORY
A Constant and the Fate of Galaxies
The cosmological constant changes how models of expansion allow structure to grow.
The cosmological constant presents one of physics’ most famous puzzles. A much larger vacuum-energy density could have prevented matter from assembling into galaxies. Conceptual illustration by The Last Transmission.
THE OBSERVATION
What we can actually see.
Astronomers infer accelerated expansion from several kinds of distance and structure measurements. In standard cosmological models, the value of the cosmological constant affects the formation and survival of gravitationally bound structures.
THE ILLUSTRATION
What the artwork imagines.
The threatened galaxies and colored vacuum are a counterfactual picture, not a second universe we observed. Changing one parameter while holding others fixed is a modeling choice, and the painting does not measure why our value occurs.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE
The story that inspired it.
The article moves from the predictive success of equations to questions about physical constants and interpretation. The cosmological constant changes how models of expansion allow structure to grow.
Read The Universe Looks Written in Mathematics. Physics Still Can’t Explain Why.CHECK THE RECORD
The image interprets the research below. Follow the original work for the measurements and limits behind the scene.
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