Finally, after more than a decade of work and studying around 1,500 Type Ia supernovas, the Dark Energy Survey has produced a new best measurement of w. We found w = −0.80 ± 0.18, so it’s somewhere between −0.62 and −0.98.
This is a very interesting result. It is close to −1, but not quite exactly there. To be the cosmological constant, or the energy of empty space, it would need to be exactly −1.
Where does this leave us? With the idea that a more complex model of dark energy may be needed, perhaps one in which this mysterious energy has changed over the life of the universe.
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