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The inflationary epoch is the term used in physical cosmology to describe the brief time in the very early universe when, according to inflation theory, the universe was expanding exponentially. It is believed to have occurred about 10-35 seconds after the Big Bang when the temperature of the universe was 1027 kelvins. At this point, in a process called symmetry breaking, a phase transition caused by the cooling of the universe occurred as the strong force stopped being unified with the weak and electromagnetic forces.
Most scientists estimate the duration of the inflationary epoch as 10-32 of a second. During this time, the size of the universe increased by a factor of 1050 from an initial size of 10-26 meters in diameter (a hundred billion times smaller than a proton) to approximately one hundred million light years (1024 m) in diameter. This exponential inflation solves many of the problems of a simple big bang, such as the flatness problem and the horizon problem.
In 2001, the United States' National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite. In the years since its launch, WMAP has measured the radiant heat remaining from the Big Bang, otherwise known as the cosmic microwave background. Continuing analysis of WMAP's measurements, as detailed in a March 16, 2006 NASA press release, seem to verify the inflation theory as well as provide additional detailed information about the structure and composition of the universe.
Those first introduced to the idea of inflation often question its validity because the expansion seems to have taken place at speeds much greater than the speed of light. The superluminal speed of expansion is possible because the fabric of spacetime itself was expanding, carrying matter along with it. This does not violate Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity because information transfer in the inflationary universe never exceeded the speed of light. Indeed, the inflationary epoch was so brief that the primordial matter did not have time to move, essentially transferring the initial non-uniform distribution of matter into the post-inflationary universe .
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