Tachyons: Hypothetical Faster-than-Light Particles

  1. Cosmic inflation was a sudden burst of expansion that happened just after the Big Bang.
  2. In less than a trillionth of a second, the universe grew exponentially.
  3. Inflation explains why the cosmos looks smooth and uniform in every direction.
  4. Tiny quantum fluctuations during inflation became seeds for galaxies.
  5. The observable universe once fit into a region smaller than an atom.
  6. Inflation solves the “flatness problem,” showing why space is nearly flat today.
  7. It also explains why distant regions of the universe share the same temperature.
  8. The theory was first proposed by physicist Alan Guth in the 1980s.
  9. Evidence comes from patterns in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
  10. Some models suggest inflation could spawn multiple universes—a possible multiverse.