Cosmic Inflation: The Universe’s Growth Spurt

Cosmic inflation was a sudden, exponential expansion of the universe right after the Big Bang.
It happened in less than a trillionth of a second, stretching space faster than light.
Inflation explains why the universe looks so uniform in every direction.
Tiny quantum fluctuations during inflation grew into galaxies and cosmic structure.
The observable universe once fit into a region smaller than an atom.
Inflation solves the “flatness problem,” showing why space is nearly perfectly flat today.
It also explains why we don’t see magnetic monopoles predicted by some theories.
The idea was proposed in the 1980s by physicist Alan Guth and others.
Indirect evidence for inflation comes from patterns in the cosmic microwave background.
Some versions suggest inflation may create multiple universes—a possible link to the multiverse.