What was the universe like before inflation?

Before this period of inflation, the entire Universe could have been in causal contact and equilibrate to a common temperature. Widely separated regions today were actually very close together in the early Universe, explaining why photons from these regions have (almost exactly) the same temperature.

How much did the universe grow during inflation?

According to inflation theory, during the inflationary epoch about 10−32 of a second after the Big Bang, the universe suddenly expanded, and its volume increased by a factor of at least 1078 (an expansion of distance by a factor of at least 1026 in each of the three dimensions), equivalent to expanding an object 1 …

How does inflation help explain the uniformity of the universe?

After inflation, the expansion of the universe continued, but at a slower rate. As space expanded, the universe cooled and matter formed, and then protons and neutrons formed. So Inflation Theory explains why the CMB is so nearly uniform, and also how galaxies, stars, planets and people came to be!

What happened inflation universe?

The inflationary epoch lasted from 10−36 seconds after the conjectured Big Bang singularity to some time between 10−33 and 10−32 seconds after the singularity. Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate. It explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos.

What happened during inflation of universe?

In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the early universe. Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate.

What effect did inflation have on the geometry of the universe?

It increased the linear size of the universe by more than 60 “e-folds”, or a factor of ~10^26 in only a small fraction of a second! Inflation is now considered an extension of the Big Bang theory since it explains the above puzzles so well, while retaining the basic paradigm of a homogeneous expanding universe.

What happened in the inflation of the universe?

In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the early universe. The inflationary epoch lasted from 10−36 seconds after the conjectured Big Bang singularity to some time between 10−33 and 10−32 seconds after the singularity.

What stopped cosmic inflation?

At some point the expansion stopped because the energy density dropped and the elementary particles in the table were created out of the available energy. The inflaton field is a hypothetical scalar field that is theorized to drive cosmic inflation in the very early universe.

What happens to the universe during the inflationary epoch?

The universe goes whoosh, and inflation does its thing. But then, the inflaton (somehow) changes and reduces its vacuum energy, shutting off the inflationary epoch. I’m being kind of vague here, because the physics are, well, kind of vague.

What is inflation and why is it important?

Inflation is a sudden and dramatic expansion of the universe thought to have occurred at the end of the GUT era. Why do we think there was slightly more matter than antimatter in the early universe? What happened to all the antimatter, and when? Because the universe contains a significant amount of matter now.

What does inflation resolve in Big Bang cosmology?

Inflation resolves several problems in Big Bang cosmology that were discovered in the 1970s. Inflation was first proposed by Alan Guth in 1979 while investigating the problem of why no magnetic monopoles are seen today; he found that a positive-energy false vacuum would, according to general relativity, generate an exponential expansion of space.

How long does the universe expand after the Big Bang?

Inflation (cosmology) The inflationary epoch lasted from 10 −36 seconds after the conjectured Big Bang singularity to sometime between 10 −33 and 10 −32 seconds after the singularity. Following the inflationary period, the universe continues to expand, but at a less rapid rate.