The Universe Accelerates Without Dark Energy ✛ ✦

Original: "Teleocosmology and quantum post-selection"
· Paul C. W. Davies, João Magueijo
arXiv:2606.02514v1 · 2026-06-01 · CC BY 4.0 · 1 min
A quantum approach explains cosmic acceleration, doing away with mysterious dark energy.

The universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. For a long time, it was thought that gravity was slowing the galaxies' flight apart. But astronomers, including Edwin Hubble, discovered that galaxies are speeding away ever faster. To explain this, dark energy was devised — an unseen force pushing the cosmos apart. The trouble is that its calculated power is 10¹²⁰ times greater than observed.

Even Georges Lemaître, the creator of the Big Bang theory, allowed that the universe "knows" its ending.

The new explanation draws on quantum mechanics: a particle's behavior can be determined not only by its start but also by its outcome: this is postselection. Such a technique has already been applied to black holes, where the future horizon influences radiation. The authors gave the universe a final state with no dark energy and got a precise picture: first, expansion slows, and then, in our era, it accelerates. No mysterious substance is needed.

The quantum world is strange: superposition lets particles be in multiple states, and entanglement links them across distances. Here, future and past are "entangled"—the ending dictates the plot.

Experiments confirm: a future measurement causes a particle in the past to display super-capabilities. The model resonates with the work of Stephen Hawking. If it's right, the mystery of dark energy will be solved by rethinking the boundaries of space-time.

A similar effect has already been observed in quantum labs: if a certain measurement is made in the future, a particle can exhibit incredible properties — for example, its spin can exceed the maximum possible value. This is called 'weak values'.

\Psi(b,T)=\int d\phi\, A(\phi) e^{i(P(b;\phi,m)-\phi T)}
Wave function of the Universe as a superposition of states with different values of the cosmological constant, where b is the connection, T is unimodular time.
b_{\text{peak}} \approx b_r + \frac{\epsilon^2}{\sigma_X^2} b_r^2 b_{\text{CS}}^5
The position of the peak of the conditional amplitude deviates from the classical radiation trajectory b_r under the influence of the Chern-Simons soliton b_{\text{CS}}; ε is the half-width of the forward wave packet.
Scientists
Bryce DeWittCarlo RovelliJohn Archibald WheelerWilliam UnruhChristian DopplerAdam Riess
Concepts
non singular cosmology quantum classical boundary cosmological bounce quantum cosmology cosmic accelerator semiclassical cosmic particle acceleration cosmological constant classical limit spontaneous emission causality reheating complementarity principle semiclassical gravity bubble nucleation time evolution dark energy alternatives planck time tomography superposition principle