• Question: Is the theory of cosmic inflation correct

    Asked by p09bilalo to Jimmy on 15 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: James Holloway

      James Holloway answered on 15 Mar 2013:

      It is a theory that explains certain things in the universe that we see today, but thats not enough to call it correct.

      The stamp of a good theory is one that makes predictions that are later confirmed. I don’t want to go super geek on you, but there was a satellite that was launched (WMAP) and looked at the ‘heat’ of the universe in all directions. What it found was that the universe was slightly hotter and colder in different parts.

      The theory of inflation predicted that there would be these slight hot and cold spots (due to something called quantum fluctuations in the early universe), and the WMAP satellite then went out and saw them!

      So inflation explains what we see and makes predictions that are later confirmed. You can’t get much better than that!

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