Cosmic Inflation
10^-35 seconds after the Big Bang · Prehistoric
Approximately 10^-35 seconds after the Big Bang, the universe expanded from subatomic size to larger than a grapefruit during a period called cosmic inflation. This expansion stretched space itself and amplified quantum fluctuations to cosmic scale, creating density variations that later formed galaxy clusters, stars, and planets. The BICEP2 Research Team detected evidence for this event in 2014 through patterns in cosmic microwave background radiation observed by the BICEP2 telescope.
Key Figures
BICEP2 Research Team
Locations
Universe
Topics
astronomycosmologyphysicsuniverseBig Bangexpansion
Connected Events — 2 Connections
The Big Bang initiated the rapid expansion described by cosmic inflation within the first fraction of a second The Big Bang: The Cosmological Event
Planck's natural units, especially Planck time (10^-44 seconds), provided the theoretical framework to describe cosmic inflation's duration and the Planck epoch - the earliest measurable moment in the universe's history when quantum effects dominated Planck's Natural Units and Planck Time
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