inflationary universe

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a version of the big bang theory in which the universe underwent very rapid growth during the first fraction of a second before it settled down to its current rate of expansion.

---

inflationary universe British  

noun

1. a variation of the cosmological big-bang theory in which the early stage of the evolution of the universe is postulated to include a period of accelerated expansion

---

inflationary universe Cultural  

1. A period early in the big bang during which the universal expansion proceeded at a much more rapid rate that it did before or since. Cosmologists believe that most of the matter in the universe was created during the period of inflation.

---

Example Sentences

The currently popular inflationary universe theory, which explains the “fix” as resulting from a sudden burst of accelerating expansion in the first split second of cosmic existence, provided additional fertile ground for Barrow’s theoretical explorations.

From Scientific American

If, in fact, we do live in an inflationary universe in which galaxies grew from quantum chaos, then we should expect to find them randomly scattered throughout space.

From Scientific American

“Another cosmic crunch, and maybe another inflationary universe afterwards.”

From Nature

In the bargain, it has also at last confirmed the existence of what are known as gravitational waves and the inflationary universe.

From Time

Dana: The viral video of Stanford professor Andrei Linde celebrating an astrophysics discovery that vindicates his theory of an inflationary universe.

From Slate