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The expansion of the universe can be understood as resulting from an initial condition in which the contents of the universe are flying apart. The mutual gravitational attraction of the matter and radiation within the universe gradually slows this expansion over time, but their density is too low to prevent continued expansion. [20]
The International Astronomical Union uses the term "age of the universe" to mean the duration of the Lambda-CDM expansion, [13] or equivalently, the time elapsed within the currently observable universe since the Big Bang. The expansion rate at any time is called the Hubble parameter ˙, which is modeled as ˙ = + + + (), where are density ...
The accelerated expansion of the universe is thought to have begun since the universe entered its dark-energy-dominated era roughly 5 billion years ago. [ 8 ] [ notes 1 ] Within the framework of general relativity , an accelerated expansion can be accounted for by a positive value of the cosmological constant Λ , equivalent to the presence of ...
The second equation states that both the energy density and the pressure cause the expansion rate of the universe ˙ to decrease, i.e., both cause a deceleration in the expansion of the universe. This is a consequence of gravitation , with pressure playing a similar role to that of energy (or mass) density, according to the principles of ...
Using the dimensionless scale factor to characterize the expansion of the universe, the effective energy densities of radiation and matter scale differently. This leads to a radiation-dominated era in the very early universe but a transition to a matter-dominated era at a later time and, since about 4 billion years ago, a subsequent dark-energy ...
The expansion of the universe is parameterized by a dimensionless scale factor = (with time counted from the birth of the universe), defined relative to the present time, so = =; the usual convention in cosmology is that subscript 0 denotes present-day values, so denotes the age of the universe.
In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the very early universe.Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate.
In using Hubble's law to determine distances, only the velocity due to the expansion of the universe can be used. Since gravitationally interacting galaxies move relative to each other independent of the expansion of the universe, [43] these relative velocities, called peculiar velocities, need to be accounted for in the application of Hubble's ...