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Eternal Inflation
Author(s) -
GUTH ALAN H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb02128.x
Subject(s) - unobservable , inflation (cosmology) , universe , theoretical physics , product (mathematics) , physics , eternal inflation , keynesian economics , philosophy , economics , inflaton , mathematics , epistemology , astrophysics , geometry
A bstract : The basic workings of inflationary models are summarized, along with the arguments that strongly suggest that our universe is the product of inflation. It is argued that essentially all inflationary models lead to (future‐)eternal inflation, which implies that an infinite number of pocket universes are produced. Although the other pocket universes are unobservable, their existence nonetheless has consequences for the way that we evaluate theories and extract consequences from them. The question of whether the universe had a beginning is discussed but not definitively answered. It appears likely, however, that eternally inflating universes do require a beginning.