What do we mean by inflation?

Question

What do we mean by inflation?

A - what happened the instant after the Big Bang

B - the sudden release of photons when a particle and antiparticle annihilate each other

C - a sudden expansion of the universe after the strong force froze out from the GUT force

D -the separation that occurs after two photons collide and create a particle and an antiparticle

E - the expansion of the universe that we still observe today

Answer 1

C is correct. In smaller ways, A and even E could be viewed as correct as well.

An inflationary universe is a
1) model of the universe in which the early universe underwent a period of exponentially rapid expansion, required to develop the high degree of homogeneity shown by the present-day universe.

2) period early in the big bang during which the universal expansion proceeded at a much more rapid rate that it did before or since. Cosmologists believe that most of the matter in the universe was created during the period of inflation.

3) theory of the evolution of the early universe which asserts that at some early time the observable universe underwent a period of exponential expansion, during which the scale of the universe increased by at least 28 orders of magnitude.

HOWEVER,

GUT ERA:
GUT stands for grand unified theories.

This is a theory that unites three of the four known forces. The four forces are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. GUT combine the strong force with the electroweak force (the combination of weak and electromagnetic force). We have learned that the forces are seperate but under high temperatures they come together. So the GUT era is when gravity and GUT force controlled the Universe.

During the GUT Era is when we think INFLATION happened. At that point the Universe underwent a dramatic expansion. When the strong force froze out of the the GUT force (like ice crystals forming on water), that may have caused an enormous energy release. Inflation is an important aspect of the Big Bang since it explains many problems: the structure problem, the smoothness problem, and the fact that we are at the critical density.

Answer 2

C