Osm bsm Y.

i'm having trouble with the force of gravity traveling at the speed of light (as was being discussed elsewhere) and the end of the inflationary period according to inflation theory.

what slowed the inflation down? if energy was "inflating" faster then the speed of light, gravity could not have caught up to the expansion (which is what i thought happened till now). can someone help me with what caused the decay of this inflation?

as i understand inflation theory, there was a time when energy was flung faster then the speed of light (big bang?) in all directions. then the expansion began slowing and matter formed and through gravity, the matter organized itself in a way. it came together to form stars ect.

i was introduced to this idea learning about the hubble sphere for our location in space. is there maybe another explanation for how we got here in the universe ahead of light from 13 billion light years away/ago?

thx.

Wyz_sub10

I'm not sure if you saw this, but user eh offered a response in this thread:

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...5&pagenumber=2

Answerer

Hi guys, I have an question about inflationary theory? Is the theory well-founded? I had heard and seen negative comments from scientists regarding the theory(when it is first suggested), they said that the theory is 'purely speculating' and is only useful for science fiction novel and pointless debate. But things eventually cooled off as no one else had a better theory of whats going on in that 'first few minutes'?

Since I can't find any reasonable scientifical evidence or argument for the theory, I can't really disagree with those scientists that the theory, itself is purely speculation. So, what do you guys think, do the inflationary theory worth believing in, just like the theory of relativity in the not so distant past?

Mr. Sammi

Answerer,

Why do you use the term minutes when speaking of the temporal range in the dawning of our universe? Remember Hiesenberg? I think it is a fallacy to associate our conception of human time to the dawning of our universe. Many scientists have done it EVEN the ones who may try to discredit inflationary theory.


Sammi Na Boodie ()

Wyz_sub10

Perhaps. But in all fairness, temporal notation is used all the time when describing the Big Bang and inflationary models. It's necessary to comprehendion purposes, especially for the layman in general or when presenting such notions in a populist format.

Answerer

Well, actually I recalled putting some inverted comma before and after the words, 'the first few minutes'. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, anyway, what do you guys think of the inflationary theory, does it carry the true worth of a credible theory like relativity did?

eh

Inflation theorists say that given what we know about particle physics, quantum mechanics and vacuum states, inflation is unavoidable. And they might be the right. The problem is, no one as of yet has a complete quantum theory of particle physics, since gravity has remained a difficult area. It will take a final working theory on quantum gravity to know whether or not inflation exists in reality.

For the time being, it seems that inflation is not yet compatible with string theory, though it seems to work ok with other TOE candidates.

beco

Err *raises hand* is there a good working defination of "time" now? I remember S. Hawkins saying time was entropy. I'm a layman, be gentel.

cfgauss

There's nothing wrong with talking about time near the beginning of the universe. Equations without time aren't the fun ones!

Inflation hasn't really done a whole lot in the area of making new, testable predictions. That's the reason that some scientists don't quite buy it. And until it does make some cool predictions, there will still be some (deserved) skepticism.

And time has had a good definition since Einstein. Time is, more or less, the same thing as space, just one-dimensional.

beco

My bad, I wasn't clear. I guess I was asking how you measure time, entropy was the best indication that time had past/progressed?