<P> Alan Guth and Alexei Starobinsky proposed in 1980 that a negative pressure field , similar in concept to dark energy , could drive cosmic inflation in the very early universe . Inflation postulates that some repulsive force , qualitatively similar to dark energy , resulted in an enormous and exponential expansion of the universe slightly after the Big Bang . Such expansion is an essential feature of most current models of the Big Bang . However , inflation must have occurred at a much higher energy density than the dark energy we observe today and is thought to have completely ended when the universe was just a fraction of a second old . It is unclear what relation , if any , exists between dark energy and inflation . Even after inflationary models became accepted , the cosmological constant was thought to be irrelevant to the current universe . </P>
<P> Alan Guth and Alexei Starobinsky proposed in 1980 that a negative pressure field , similar in concept to dark energy , could drive cosmic inflation in the very early universe . Inflation postulates that some repulsive force , qualitatively similar to dark energy , resulted in an enormous and exponential expansion of the universe slightly after the Big Bang . Such expansion is an essential feature of most current models of the Big Bang . However , inflation must have occurred at a much higher energy density than the dark energy we observe today and is thought to have completely ended when the universe was just a fraction of a second old . It is unclear what relation , if any , exists between dark energy and inflation . Even after inflationary models became accepted , the cosmological constant was thought to be irrelevant to the current universe . </P>
what was the role of dark energy in the early universe
what was the role of dark energy in the early universe
drive cosmic inflation
drive cosmic inflation