A Theoretical Study of Cosmic Expansion and Dark Energy Based on Spatial Self-Balancing Dynamics

The accelerated expansion of the universe is one of the core unsolved puzzles in modern physics and cosmology. The standard cosmological model represented by ΛCDM attributes the observed cosmic accelerated expansion to dark energy. In its simplest form, dark energy is interpreted as vacuum energy with negative pressure, whose energy density does not dilute with cosmic expansion and drives the outward expansion of space via an effective repulsive force. This model can fit a large set of observational data including cosmic microwave background radiation, baryon acoustic oscillations and Type Ia supernovae, and has become the current benchmark paradigm of cosmology. Nevertheless, since its inception, this theory has been plagued by the fine-tuning problem of the cosmological constant and the cosmic coincidence problem. In recent years, with the release of observational results from new-generation surveys such as DESI, a series of observational inconsistencies including the Hubble tension and possible evolution of the dark energy equation of state have gradually come to light. Accordingly, numerous alternative candidate frameworks have been proposed within the academic community to account for cosmic expansion.
This paper is built upon the following fundamental propositions: the universe is a monistic energetic spatial system, and space is the concrete manifestation of energy; space possesses intrinsic self-balancing dynamical properties, and material systems are branches derived from the spatial energy system. In other words, space is the universe.
Cosmic space constitutes a uniform and stable energetic substrate endowed with rich dynamical properties including toughness, stiffness and constraining force. Cosmic expansion is not driven by repulsive negative pressure pushing space outward. Instead, it is a dynamical process in which the intrinsic energy of the universe continuously generates new space following a uniform intrinsic criterion. The total energy of the universe is conserved. Energy consumed to produce new space depletes as the volume of space grows, so cosmic expansion has a natural dynamical endpoint. The expansion will cease once the energy available for generating new space is exhausted.
Within this framework, there exists no physical mechanism whereby gravity converts into repulsion. The four fundamental interactions — strong force, weak force, electromagnetic force and gravity — are all manifestations of the dynamical properties of spatial self-balancing at different scales. The 10¹²⁰ energy discrepancy in the cosmological constant problem is not a genuine energy mismatch. The enormous vacuum energy density associated with quantum fluctuations represents the maximum threshold for cosmic space to withstand perturbative impacts. Vacuum zero-point energy is not energy stored inside vacuum that can be extracted or released; it is an inherent tolerance threshold of the spatial structure itself, the upper limit that space can sustain under perturbation.