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According to the theory of cosmic inflation, the very early universe underwent a period of very rapid, quasi-exponential expansion.While the time-scale for this period of expansion was far shorter than that of the existing expansion, this was a period of accelerated expansion with some similarities to the current epoch.
The universe could be infinite in extent or it could be finite; but the evidence that leads to the inflationary model of the early universe also implies that the "total universe" is much larger than the observable universe. Thus any edges or exotic geometries or topologies would not be directly observable, since light has not reached scales on ...
The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. [1] The notion of an expanding universe was first scientifically originated by physicist Alexander Friedmann in 1922 with the mathematical derivation of the Friedmann equations.
The mystery phenomenon of why the universe is expanding is known to cosmologists as "dark energy." ... early dark energy – that gave the universe an unexpected kick after the big bang," said ...
Fresh corroboration of the perplexing observation that the universe is expanding more rapidly than expected has scientists pondering the cause - perhaps some unknown factor involving the ...
The thinning of matter over time reduces the ability of gravity to decelerate the expansion of the universe; in contrast, dark energy (believed to be a constant scalar field throughout the visible universe) is a constant factor tending to accelerate the expansion of the universe. The universe's expansion passed an inflection point about five or ...
Infinite expansion does not constrain the overall spatial curvature of the universe.It can be open (with negative spatial curvature), flat, or closed (positive spatial curvature), although if it is closed, sufficient dark energy must be present to counteract the gravitational forces or else the universe will end in a Big Crunch.
Since the early 20th century, the field of cosmology establishes that space and time emerged together at the Big Bang 13.787 ± 0.020 billion years ago [11] and that the universe has been expanding since then.