There would be no fewer particles in an expanding universe energy would just decrease because they would just grow further and further apart. Matter is made of particles whose energy is pretty constant. However, even if quintessence did end up dissipating with the expansion of the universe, it would still do so more slowly than matter. Instead of wane, its effect on expansion could reverse and become an attractive force that pulls everything together into an epic crash like no other. Eventually, unlike vacuum energy, the quintessence energy could go away entirely.вЂќДЄnother thing that could happen if dark energy is a quintessence is the end of all things. If it exists, it would be a field that pervades all of space, filling it with an infinitesimal amount of energy that slowly dilutes away as space expands. вЂњвЂQuintessenceвЂ™ is the most basic form of that idea. вЂњThere could be a kind of dark energy that is something dynamical, almost constant but not quite,вЂќ he said. If the warping of polarization in the CMB is really the result of dark energy as a quintessence, that means the dark energy would be able to change, as Carroll believes. Dark energy is often thought to be a cosmological constant, which means the density of that energy would not change in the vacuum of space. This change in the direction of polarization is what is thought to have revealed the effects of quintessence. Because Minami and Komatsu observed the twisting of polarized light in the CMB, it suggested that quintessence was behind this because it supposedly warps the direction that polarized photons travel in. Polarized light will move in one particular direction.

For example, photons of light may be affected by traveling through evolving quintessence, by having their polarizations slightly rotated as they go,вЂќ said Carroll. вЂњWe can look for interactions between the quintessence field and other particles and forces. The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).В Credit: NASA

The interaction of atoms and photons will usually make the atoms vibrate and give off an electromagnetic wave. Polarization happens to photons, or particles of light, when they scatter because of colliding into the atoms of a medium they are passing through. The scientists believed that searching the CMB for signs of polarized light could possibly prove that quintessence exists.

The signal that Minami and Komatsu identified in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is basically all the electromagnetic radiation that the Big Bang left in its wake, is a shift in light that seems to be a fingerprint of quintessence. We could study it in a number of ways-how fast it evolves, whether it's the same in different parts of the universe, how it might interact with other forms of matter and energy.вЂќ вЂњThat would represent a new dynamical field, a previously undetected ingredient in the fundamental recipe of physics. вЂњIt would be huge deal if the dark energy were quintessence,вЂќ theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, who was not involved in the latest study but has conducted previous studies on dark energy, told SYFY WIRE. If it is, it could have possibly reverse expansion and redefine our idea of how the universe will end by crushing everything at once.

Dark energy itself could even be a quintessence. Cosmologists Yuto Minami and Eiichiro Komatsu now believe the have found evidence of something weird that is twisting light in the universe вЂ“and might also be able to why dark energy is making the universe expand so fast. It is thought to be an exotic but intangible substance that fills in all the empty space out there. Whatever the fifth element is, it isnвЂ™t some sort of alien crystal with supernatural powers like it is in The Fifth Element. Leeloo wouldnвЂ™t be able to use it to save the universe, either. The Diva Plavalaguna (above) would be singing a different tune if she found out the fifth element was nothing like the stone she was guarding.

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