The universe will die in the "big bang"

 Was it annihilated in the explosion or died in silence? Astronomers have long been thinking about how the universe will end.

　　The known laws of physics indicate that from now to about 10100 years, stars will stop birthing, galaxies will darken, and even black holes will evaporate through the process of Hawking radiation, leaving only simple subatomic particles and energy.

The expansion of  space will cool the energy to close to 0 Kelvin (absolute zero), which means the universe’s "thermal death" and total entropy.

　　According to Science(replica hermes), a new study shows that in the unimaginable distant future, the remnants of icy stars called black dwarfs will begin to explode, forming a series of spectacular supernovae, releasing the last "fireworks" in the history of the universe. This may be the last "cheer" of the universe before everything darkens forever.

　　 This spring, when Matt Caplan, a theoretical physicist at Illinois State University in the United States, taught an astrophysics course, he realized that the fate of the last group of celestial bodies has never been explained.

　　 After running out of thermonuclear fuel, low-mass stars like the Sun will not appear in the form of striking supernovae. Instead, they will slowly fall off the outer layer, leaving behind a hot, Earth-sized core, a white dwarf.

　　 "They are like pans taken from the stove. They will get colder and colder, basically forever," Caplan said.

　　 White dwarfs usually no longer produce energy and rely on a force called electron degeneracy to resist gravitational collapse. The particles in a white dwarf star are locked in a lattice that emits heat for trillions of years, far exceeding the current age of the universe. But eventually, these white dwarfs will gradually cool down and become black dwarfs.

　　 Black dwarfs lack the energy to drive nuclear reactions, so nuclear fusion reactions rarely occur inside them. Fusion requires charged atomic nuclei to overcome strong electrostatic repulsion and merge.

　　 However, for a long time, quantum mechanics allows particles to pass through the energy barrier, which means that despite the extremely low speed, fusion reactions can still occur.

　　When atoms such as silicon and nickel are combined with iron, they can generate positrons, which are the antiparticles of electrons. These positrons will slowly destroy some electrons in the center of the black dwarf and weaken its degeneracy pressure.

For stars with a mass approximately 1.2 to 1.4 times the sun (approximately 1% of all stars in the universe today), this weakening will eventually lead to a catastrophic gravitational collapse, triggering a huge supernova similar to the formation of higher-mass stars break out.

　　Caplan reported the research in this month's "Monthly of the Royal Astronomical Society".

　　Caplan said that this dramatic explosion will begin to occur after 10,110, a figure that is almost incomprehensible to the human brain. And this outbreak will continue after 1032,000.

　　 I hope that time travelers who witnessed the last "fireworks" of the universe will be disappointed. Because in this era, dark energy, a mysterious substance that is opposite to gravity, will separate everything in the universe. Every black dwarf will be surrounded by huge darkness, and supernovae will not even be able to observe each other.

　　 Yale University astrophysicist Gregory Laughlin praised this research as an interesting thought experiment, which allows scientists to consider physical processes that have not had enough time to unfold in the current era.

　　 However, Laughlin also emphasized that any research on the distant future should not be taken seriously. "Our view of the extremely distant future reflects our current understanding, and this view will change over time."