Dark Energy and Cosmic Expansion

Dark energy and cosmic expansion are among the most confounding topics in astrophysics. As Philip Perry asks, How is the universe moving faster than the speed of light?

By fully understanding the difference between spacetime (which makes up the universe) and the void (into which the universe is expanding), the conundrum of cosmic expansion and dark energy may solve itself.

Adapted from Substance of Spacetime, Chapter 4: Astrophysics, Section: Cosmic Expansion (Dark Energy)

The problem of cosmic expansion, and particularly of its acceleration, is simultaneously the most difficult and simplest question of cosmology. Difficult, because it depends on knowledge of the fundamental substance and, for that reason, naturally comes at the end of our quest for the truth. Simple, because, armed with that truth, the answer is very straightforward.

Spacetime is liberated by all stellar phenomena. At the same time, the ambient spacetime of the universe resists compression above its equilibrium pressure (the vacuum pressure). Therefore, the only way to make room for the spacetime liberated by these stellar phenomena is for the universe to expand. Since it is expanding into the void, which, as I have shown, does not provide any resistance to matter, nothing impedes this expansion; the rapid expansion of the Big Bang being the other prominent example. And if a force (that of spacetime decompression) is applied to a mass (the cosmos), that mass is accelerated according to the simple equation a=F/m. I wish there were more to it, but that is pretty much the whole story. Still, the ease with which the theory explains this perennial head-scratcher is further evidence of its power.

Clearly, gravity will not arrest the motion of the cosmos. When all the atomic objects have disintegrated into undifferentiated spacetime, there will not be anything left in the universe that is attracted to a pressure gradient. In any case, there will not be any pressure gradients either. Instead, the momentum of expansion will eventually return the universe to the void according to x/∞ = 0.