Other pages on this site show how energy links that pull are responsible for the four forces.  This is the page that picks up the loose ends, so to speak.  Where the links come from and go to, not only completes the whole picture of energy and matter in the universe, but also explains its expansion.

What pull could possibly be out on the fringe of the universe that is separating galaxies?  Gravity tries in vain to pull them together, or at least slow the expansion.

We know that dark matter is on the fringe of individual galaxies and its gravity allows the galaxy to spin as a unit etc. but internal gravity prevails and galaxies are not expanding, (they are all just receding from each other).

Like dots painted on the surface of an expanding balloon, each galaxy recedes from the other with no one being in the ‘center’. 

The more distant a galaxy is; the faster it recedes from earth.  This has led to a misconception that the most distant ones are moving close to or faster than light speed.  It is a perspective caused by the addition of velocities.  In absolute terms, equidistant galaxies are all receding from each other at the same rate.  If our neighboring galaxy recedes at “X” and the next one out also recedes from it at “X”, then the more distant one  recedes from earth at “2X” and so on.  The expanding balloon analogy matches observation but the question remains, “why”?

Einstein’s Cosmological Constant was no blunder.  Something is pushing galaxies apart.  What then is the root cause of the accelerated expansion?  You guessed it, Dark Energy and our now familiar Energy Links!

Discrete energy potentials now depend on matter to form continuous energy links which open up new space.

Most quantum field theories predict a cosmological constant 123 orders of magnitude too large and powerful.  They are correct but also mistakenly assume that so much dark energy would expand the universe so fast that everything we know would not exist. 

Extremely fast expansion did occur of course and we know it as the inflationary phase.  During inflation, the universe was a continuous blob of energy.  It could push into the void while remaining a contiguous, centralized entity.  This state of affairs was short lived however because the energy soon dispersed enough to be no longer continuous.  This is analogous to a phase change in matter from a liquid to a high pressure gas.

The ‘brakes’ were put on because the now discrete “energy potentials” cannot enter the void.

Despite the extremely high pressure, these separate energy potentials cannot (independently) cause expansion into nothing.

The energy that now shares all of our space and inhabits all matter exists as “discrete energy potentials”.  These “potentials” are not full-fledged actionable energy and have become known as the mysterious and famous “Dark Energy”. 

The universe is absolutely full of evenly distributed “energy potentials” i.e. Dark Energy. 

Matter is the previously unrecognized ‘regulator’  that recreates continuous energy again, only now it is in miniscule, one-dimensional streams which open up new space at a comparatively much slower rate.

Energy lines are sent out from a particle in a radial manner to land where they might.  It is all a matter of probability where exactly they encounter another particle with a termination site.  On the fringe of the universe (whatever the topography is), some lines will miss everything and blindly head out into the void!  (Fig. 1 below).

These wayward lines do not get far before they are sheared somewhere behind by a line or bundle crossing their paths. 

The part left in the void becomes a “floater”, loses its spin, and breaks down into a dilute cloud of “energy potentials”. The important point being; there is now something where previously there was nothing! 

A shell of dark energy is built around the universe.  The existing universe expands into the shell by equalizing the density of dark energy everywhere within the new boundary.  (Increasing entropy is 100% probable on this scale).  It is a gradual and continuous process as a new shell builds, and so on, and so on.

The discovery of a “great hole”, roughly a billion light years across made headlines Aug. 24/07.  This discovery was then brought into question as a statistical artifact (NewScientist May 17-23/08).  As matter coalesced and clumped it supposedly left this gap in the distribution of matter and dark matter but I posit not dark energy!  If the “hole” does exist and contains little else, the density of dark energy would still be the same there as everywhere else in the universe. 

Think about it; the “hole” cannot be a true “void” because it would be already occupied by dark energy.

Even if not fully occupied initially, it would have become so by the mechanism described above.  As the distribution of dark energy is continuously equalized, the “hole” would also expand with the universe. 

How such a huge volume of space was vacated at one location could never be explained by matter clumping alone.  If it exists at all, the real reason for the enormity of the “hole” is that it came from modest origins and then expanded to greatness over an also great number of years.

Expansion is currently accelerating simply because the more galaxies separate, the less their gravity is able to counteract it.  This will not however, become a runaway phenomenon.

The thickness of the shell is limited by how far lines penetrate the void and is small compared to the universe it encloses.  As billions of years pass, the shell thickness will become insignificant compared to the expanded universe.  In addition, galaxies now ‘close to the edge’ will be less so. 

Energy lines will no longer even make it to the void. Expansion will slow right down and the universe will effectively reach a terminal size. 

Some “constants” like G may change and all projected scenarios for the fate of the universe are not conducive to life so we will not “go there”.  I personally believe that our advanced descendents may find a way to take control.  Our purpose in life should be to ensure that they are there for the ultimate purpose when that time comes.

The time has now come to disclose the complete life cycle of Dark Energy and the Active Energy in Links.  See Figure 2 below.

Dark Energy potentials not only share all of our space but even the inside of solid particles.  These Dark Energy potentials are nothing like matter and have no effect on their own, so they can be diffused throughout a particle of matter.  All it takes is a source site (coupling) on a particle to meld the energy potentials into continuous form again; and they will shoot out.  The situation is analogous to a high speed current despite the high pressure of an enclosing ocean.  

The emerging potentials are transformed by a source site that extrudes and melds the dark energy.   As it flows out of the particle, a truly continuous line of real energy is created. 

Depending on where it was sourced on the particle, the line of energy may also be imparted a spin.  This process continues across expanses of space as the propagating line melds in more dark potentials that are already out there and everywhere. 

When the line hits a terminating site (coupling) on a receiving particle, the process is reversed. Now finally, one of our famous links is formed.

Between the particles, a unique and truly continuous line of energy now exists.  In this melded, continuous form, it tries to occupy the least possible volume and becomes as thin as possible while still existing.  It also becomes taut and exerts a pull between the particles.  This pull, as we have seen, manifests itself as the four currently known forces.  

 It is really a continuation of the BB that still drives everything.  After the inflationary period, energy dispersed into discrete energy potentials and could no longer just blast its way into the void.

Discrete energy potentials now depend on matter to form continuous energy links which open up new space at a comparatively much slower rate.  After expansion into the new space, more links are created and the cycle repeats.

Notice how dark energy potentials change to continuous links and back to discrete energy potentials again.  Energy potentials exist in the universal “sink” from which they emerge and to which they return; analogous to “ground” in an electrical system.

Who has not wondered why the earth never loses its gravity?  No matter how many times it pulls a hammer off a ladder, its gravity never gets “used up”.  The fact is that the earth does not have its own limited supply.  The earth draws on the universal sink to extend energy links and returns those it terminates to the universal sink.  Earth is just “plugged into” the loop. 

A hammer dropped (or picked up) merely changes the proportion of discrete energy potentials to those melded into links, but the total in the system is constant.  Does the word “thermodynamics” come to mind?

What young person has also not marveled at a permanent magnet?  Why does the magnet never lose its pull?  No matter how many times it pulls in objects, it is always ready to do it again.  The same principle applies, i.e. a closed loop system. 

Actually, the magnet is a unique case of a series of closed loops forming an overall loop.   Fig. 3 below is very simplified but the mystery of magnetism is fully revealed on the “Electromagnetism” page.

 Since Dark Energy co-inhabits all matter (visible or not), and all space; then it actually shares  100% of the universe.  

Dark Energy potentials and Energy Links may in fact come close to constituting 73% of the universe as a whole.  

The remainder is Matter, and would then break down as follows:

Invisible & Inert aggregations – 20%

Dark Matter – 6%

“Normal” Matter – 1%