Inflation (cosmology)

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Physical cosmology
Big Bang · Universe Age of the universe Chronology of the universe
Early universe Planck epoch Grand unification epoch Quark epoch Hadron epoch Lepton epoch Photon epoch Big Bang nucleosynthesis Inflation Dark Ages Backgrounds Cosmic background radiation (CBR) Gravitational wave background (GWB) Cosmic microwave background (CMB) · Cosmic neutrino background (CNB) Cosmic infrared background (INB)
Expansion · Future Hubble's law · Redshift Expansion of the universe Accelerating expansion of the universe FLRW metric · Friedmann equations Inhomogeneous cosmology Future of an expanding universe Ultimate fate of the universe Heat death of the universe Big Rip Big Crunch Big Bounce
Components · Structure Components Lambda-CDM model Baryonic matter Energy Radiation Dark energy Quintessence Phantom energy Dark matter Cold dark matter Warm dark matter Hot dark matter Dark radiation Structure Shape of the universe Reionization · Structure formation Galaxy formation Large-scale structure Large quasar group Galaxy filament Supercluster Galaxy cluster Galaxy group Local Group Void
Experiments BOOMERanG Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Illustris project Planck space observatory Dark Energy Survey Euclid Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey ("2dF") Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
Scientists Aaronson Alfvén Alpher Bharadwaj Copernicus de Sitter Dicke Ehlers Einstein Ellis Friedman Galileo Gamow Guth Hawking Hubble Lemaître Linde Mather Newton Penrose Penzias Rubin Schmidt Smoot Starobinsky Steinhardt Suntzeff Sunyaev Tolman Wilson Zel'dovich
Subject history Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation History of the Big Bang theory Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory Timeline of cosmological theories
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In physical cosmology, the idea of inflation is a proposed theory that would explain many features of the present-day universe, including the existence of large-scale structures such as galaxies. The theory was proposed by Alan Guth in the 1970s.