Scientists have strengthened the potential connection between dark energy and black holes. New research suggests that as more black holes were born in "little Big Bang reverse replays" in the 14.6 billion-year-old cosmos, the strength of dark energy grew to dominance and continues to change to this day.
Dark energy is the placeholder name given to the mysterious force driving the acceleration of the universe's expansion in its current epoch. It is troubling because scientists have no idea what dark energy is, yet it dominates our universe, accounting for around 70% of the cosmic matter/energy budget. This wasn't always the case, however. Prior to the dark energy-dominated epoch, matter and gravity had ruled the universe and had succeeded in slowing its initial Big Bang-driven expansion to a near stop. Dark energy then staged its cosmic coup around 5 billion years ago, "hitting the gas" on the expansion of the universe again. The problem is that no one knows where it came from or how that switch from matter to dark energy happened.
