Twishmay Shankar

In the vast expanse of our universe,
there is a theory that looms over us,
like a specter, a harbinger of doom: heat death.

According to this hypothesis, the universe will eventually reach a state of equilibrium in which all matter and energy will be perfectly and evenly distributed, rendering any form of life impossible.

And for a long, long, time, this has seemed like an inevitable fate for the universe we call home.

Is there any hope?

Is there a way for life to persist?

Here we explore some unlikely events and developments around this important puzzle.

To understand this, we must first understand the concept of entropy. Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system. The more disordered a system is, the higher its entropy.

Heat death is based on the idea, that the entropy of the universe will eventually reach a maximum, resulting in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium, where no more useful work can be extracted.

But strange things happened on way to this cosmic oblivion.

While trying to calculate the maximum entropy for our universe, scientists discovered something called the “entropy gap”, which gave rise to a tantalizing possibility.

Life might be able to survive forever!

The entropy gap refers to the difference between the actual entropy of the universe and the maximum possible entropy.

Until now, we presumed that the maximum possible entropy of the universe was bounded. It is now presumed to be increasing faster than the actual entropy of the universe!

But how could this help life survive?

Well, if the maximum possible entropy exceeds the actual entropy, and increases much faster than actual entropy, the entropy gap will exist forever!

As long as the entropy gap exists, the universe would not be in thermodynamic equilibrium. This meant that energy gradients would still exist, allowing life to extract work and continue to grow and evolve.

Our universe isn’t just expanding, but it is expanding faster and faster with time. The rate of expansion is accelerating, and while we do not understand why, this mysterious reason or force is now known as dark energy.

This acceleration would serve to keep the universe out of thermodynamic equilibrium, giving life the energy it needs to thrive.

In addition, the discovery of the Higgs boson particle suggests that the universe might be in a state of false vacuum, meaning that it could potentially transition to an even lower energy state, creating new forms of matter and energy, and giving life even more opportunities to thrive.

But the ultimate twist in this cosmic tale was when scientists discovered, that first law of thermodynamics might not apply at all to the universe as a whole.

Some physicists argue that new energy could be continuously created, as long as the ratio of positive to negative energy remains balanced.

One possible scenario is that advanced civilizations could harness the power of dark energy to create new forms of matter and energy, leading to a transformation of the universe itself.

The universe, once thought to be a place of entropy and decay, could be an endless playground for intelligent life to explore.

TS
09.03.2023