'Our model of cosmology might be broken': New study reveals the universe is expanding too fast for physics to explain
A recent study has revealed a puzzling discrepancy in our understanding of the universe’s expansion rate, suggesting that our current cosmological models may need a significant overhaul. The crux of the issue lies in the Hubble constant (H₀), a measure of the universe's expansion rate, which appears to differ depending on how it is calculated. For decades, scientists have relied on two primary methods to determine H₀. The first involves observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the faint afterglow of the Big Bang, and extrapolating the universe's expansion rate using early-universe physics. The second method uses the local universe, measuring distances to nearby galaxies via "standard candles" like Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae. However, these two methods yield conflicting results. The CMB method, based on data from missions like Planck, estimates H₀ to be around 67.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc) . In contrast, local measurements...