Astronomy and Astrophysics
A Crisped introduction to Cosmic Inflation:- Expansion of Cosmos in Fraction of Seconds!!!
No one knows the
complete truth about the creation of our universe. From the understanding of mankind
till now, we developed certain theories regarding the creation of Cosmos.
![]() |
Andrei Linde |
One of the most
accepted theory about the creation of universe is Big Bang theory. I have
already dedicated a whole article about it. So, before proceeding further I request
you to check my article on Big Bang Theory to understand this article in a
better way…….
Another theory
which is widely believed is Big Bounce Theory. I have also explained it in my
article on ‘End of Universe’.
What I explained
in the article on Big Bang Theory, was just a small segment of the complete
story of Big Bang…..
![]() |
Alexei Starobinsky |
Big Bang comprises
of various stages. Here, in this article, I am going to explain Inflation or inflation
epoch which is one of those important stages and the mechanism behind it…..
Inflation is a
part of physical cosmology and it’s the third step in the expansion of the universe
after Big Bang. The inflation epoch lasted from 10^-36 seconds to sometime between 10^-33 and 10^-32 seconds after singularity stage. During this
stage, the universe was expanding with high acceleration but, after this stage, it doesn't have that much acceleration.
![]() |
Alan Guth |
Inflation theory
was developed by theoretical physicist like Alexei Starobinsky, Andrei Linde
and Alan Guth.
Inflation epoch was
triggered by the separation of strong nuclear force from the unified forces. After
that, the universe exponentially expanded with an acceleration which is known as
Inflation or Cosmic Inflation.
In this stage, the
elementary particles remaining from the Grand Unification Epoch (the previous
stage of inflation epoch) become very thinly across the cosmos.
Also Quantum Fluctuations in the microscopic inflationary region when magnified to cosmic
size it becomes the seed for the growth of structure of the universe.
Problems solved by
Inflation theory:-
1) The Great
Horizon problem:-
Many scientist
like Georges Lemaitre, Richard Chase Tolman (in his Cyclic or Oscillatory model
of universe) and Charles Misner (by his Mixmaster Unicerse model) but they all
failed because of the continues build-up of entropy over the several cycles. But
the introduction of inflation theory completely solves the problem.
The horizon
problem refers to the problem of the fact about the appearance of cosmos as
statistically homogeneous and isotropic.
Inflation says
that, since gravitational expansion didn’t gave the early phase of universe to equilibrate.
As a result, the matter and radiation cannot be equilibrated as they move
faster than the speed of light.
2)
Magnetic-monopole problem:-
It is one of the
most debatable unsolved problem in physics. Although, inflation theory shows us
some light of hope to solve this problem but still, this remained as one of the
difficult problem to answer. It is difficult
because no one has ever found a single magnetic monopole.
It is problem which
arises with the introduction of Grand Unified theories. This theories predicted
a number of heavy and stable particle which are not observed in the universe. One
of those particle is Magnetic Monopole, a kind of stable charged particle of
magnetic field. Monopoles are predicted to be produced following the Grand
Unified Theories at high temperature and they should have persisted to the
present day to an extent that they would become the primary constituent of the
universe.
Inflation solves
the problem by this way: Occurrence of inflation below the temperature where
magnetic monopoles can be produced forced the separation of monopoles from each
other as the cosmos expands and potentially lowering their observed density by
many orders of magnitude.
3) Flatness
Problem:-
It is problem of Big
Bang model of universe. It shows that the density of matter and the energy in
the early stage universe was fine-tuned and any deviation from these values
would have extreme effects on the appearance of the universe at the current
time. This affects the curvature of spacetime and provide us a critical value which is required for a flat universe. Inflation also solves this problem with ease but to understand how it did
it, we have to go to its mathematical side which is out of the scope of this
article.
In my following
articles, I will briefly show you how Flatness problem was solved by inflation
mathematically and also what is the timeline of Big bang. Once those articles
will be published I will share the links in this article…….
Inflationary epoch was followed by Electroweak epoch which is fourth step as per the chronology of the universe.
Inflationary epoch was followed by Electroweak epoch which is fourth step as per the chronology of the universe.
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Thanks for reading.....
See you next time!!!
-Ratnadeep Das Choudhury
Founder and Writer of The Dynamic Frequency
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