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Vacuum state is a configuration of quantum fields representing a local minimum (but not necessarily a global minimum) of energy. Inflationary models propose that at approximately 10 −36 seconds after the Big Bang, vacuum state of the Universe was different from the one seen at the present time: the inflationary vacuum had a much higher energy density.
The inflaton field is a hypothetical scalar field which is conjectured to have driven cosmic inflation in the very early universe. [1] [2] [3] The field, originally postulated by Alan Guth, [1] provides a mechanism by which a period of rapid expansion from 10 −35 to 10 −34 seconds after the initial expansion can be generated, forming a universe not inconsistent with observed spatial ...
The history of the universe after inflation but before a time of about 1 second is largely unknown. [22] However, the universe is known to have been dominated by ultrarelativistic Standard Model particles, conventionally called radiation , by the time of neutrino decoupling at about 1 second. [ 23 ]
The universe then inflated, at a rate corresponding to a billion times the speed of light, and the homogeneity remained unbroken. The universe after inflation would have been very uniform, even though its parts were no longer able to influence each other. Guth first made public his ideas on inflation in a seminar at SLAC in January 1980.
The Big Bang explains the evolution of the universe from a starting density and temperature that is well beyond humanity's capability to replicate, so extrapolations to the most extreme conditions and earliest times are necessarily more speculative. Lemaître called this initial state the "primeval atom" while Gamow called the material "ylem ...
The dark-energy-dominated era began after the matter-dominated era, i.e. when the Universe was about 9.8 billion years old. [13] In the era of cosmic inflation, the Hubble parameter is also thought to be constant, so the expansion law of the dark-energy-dominated era also holds for the inflationary prequel of the big bang.
For the 12-month period ending in August 2022, the annual inflation rate was measured at 8.3% for the United States. This means the price of everyday essentials such as food, gas and living ...
Inflation then expanded the universe rapidly, isolating nearby regions of spacetime by growing them beyond the limits of causal contact, effectively "locking in" the uniformity at large distances. Essentially, the inflationary model suggests that the universe was entirely in causal contact in the very early universe.