mfb- t1_j67ij36 wrote
Reply to comment by the_fungible_man in In the absence of cosmic radiation, would an object placed in space eventually cool to absolute zero? by IHatrMakingUsernames
In principle yes. This would need absurdly long times for macroscopic objects. Could well be longer than the timescale of proton decays.
We also don't expect the temperature of space to ever reach exactly zero thanks to dark energy.
dubbzy104 t1_j67u1w1 wrote
Wouldn’t the CMB also stop the temperature of space from reaching exactly 0K. In trillions/quadrillions of years it may be very very low, but never 0K, right?
mfb- t1_j67ue0i wrote
It could drop so low that it won't stop the object from reaching its ground state, but if dark energy stays the way it is then there will always be some radiation in the universe.
dubbzy104 t1_j67uj1q wrote
True. So they both could eventually tend towards 0, but DE will generally be more energetic
Varsect t1_j680kxk wrote
I mean, dark energy isn't entirely necessary to avoid 0 Kelvin at all tbh.
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