inflaton
Sign in to saveThe inflaton field is a hypothetical scalar field that is conjectured to have driven cosmic inflation in the very early universe.
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Cosmological inflation
- Expanding vacuum state with high potential energy
- Transition to true vacuum
- Slow roll and reheating
- Field quanta
- Non-minimally coupled inflation <!--'Non-minimally coupled inflation' redirects here-->
- See also
- References
The inflaton field is a hypothetical scalar field that is conjectured to have driven cosmic inflation in the very early universe. The field, originally postulated by Alan Guth, provides a mechanism that can generate a period of rapid expansion from to after the initial expansion, which consequently forms a universe consistent with observed spatial isotropy and homogeneity.
== Cosmological inflation ==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “inflaton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.