If space is a canvas, then brushstrokes cannot be infinitely thin. There's a tiniest segment, shorter than which there's no point in measuring. This quantum 'graininess' alters the geometry itself: the motion of galaxies and the growth of large-scale structures bear its mark.
Scientists replaced the mysterious dark energy with such a correction and derived an equation for the expansion of the Universe. The model was compared with data: supernova supernovae (the Nobel triumph of Adam Riess) and the echo of the Big Bang.
This quantum picture is not inferior to the standard model, and in a number of tests even outperforms it. It seems that dark energy is not a new substance, but a shadow of the quantum world cast on cosmic scales.
as written by the authors arXiv:2604.01713
We investigate the imprints of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle on cosmological scales by using redshift-space distortion measurements in combination with background cosmological data to determine constraints on the deformation parameter $$\beta$$. We consider the modified Poisson bracket related to the existence of a minimal length, which leads to a modified Raychaudhuri equation for the standard $$\Lambda$$CDM model and gives rise to a phenomenological one-parameter dynamical dark energy scenario. Through this modification, we can reveal the effects of the minimal length on the late-time structure of the universe. We employ the $$f$$ and $$f\sigma_8$$ measurements of the growth rate combined with background data, including cosmic chronometers, baryon acoustic oscillations and Type Ia supernova observations. The observational constraints reveal a systematically negative value for the deformation parameter $$\beta$$, with the $$\Lambda$$CDM limit lying within the 95\% credible interval. When supernova data are included, the Akaike Information Criterion indicates weak-to-strong support in favour of the GUP-modified model depending on the SNIa catalogue, while the Bayesian evidence suggests a weak preference.
A ruler that never shows less than a millimeter is the essence of the uncertainty principle with a minimum length: it's impossible to measure distance with infinite precision.