Interesting discussion you've got going. This is probably not worth much more than 2 cents--just a thought to go into the mix.
I sketched something intended to suggest a big bang universe. I used to always assume it would be closed eventually, leading to the big crunch. Evidently this is contrary to most views--it probably expands indefinitely--but that could depend on factors of which we have no knowledge as of yet.
What about the possibility that there is an internal volume, involving dimensions other than our 3-D hypersurface which extrudes along the 4th dimension in my sketch? If there was some new medium of which we are not yet aware (a higher symmetry than supersymmetry is perhaps implied), then it could be the root cause of the accelerated expansion that astronomers seem to have discovered. Like blowing up a ballon.
You could think of it with either of two alternative views. 1) The medium is just inside the 3-D hypersurface in upper left of sketches--I can only show one dimension of the 3-D hypersurface, i.e., the hoop around the football-like 4-D universe indicated as "NOW" (one instant of time), or 2) The inside volume is the entire hyperdimensional volume inside the 4-D structure.
In any case, the internal pressure could be the cause of our observing a phenomena that we interpret as a mysterious dark energy in our 3-D universe.
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