The Lifetime of the Universe

TL;DR

This paper estimates the universe's future lifetime, deriving lower and upper bounds based on dark energy observations and theoretical assumptions about its expansion, suggesting it could last from billions to trillions of years.

Contribution

It introduces bounds on the universe's future age using dark energy data and assumptions about its potential and expansion behavior.

Findings

Lower limit of 26 billion years for the universe's age.

Upper limit of about e^{10^{50}} years if expansion is power-law.

Upper limit of about 10^{60} years if expansion is exponential.

Abstract

Current observations of the fraction of dark energy and a lower limit on its tension, coupled with an assumption of the non-convexity of the dark energy potential, are used to derive a lower limit of 26 billion years for the future age of the universe. Conversely, our ordered observations, coupled with an assumption that observers are smaller than the universe, are used to argue for an upper limit of about e^10^50 years if the universe eventually undergoes power-law expansion, and an upper limit of only about 10^60 years left for our universe if it continues to expand exponentially at the current rate.