11. The First Blink: Cosmic Inflation

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Also by Tony Rothman ix
4. Introduction 1
5. 1. Gravity, Pumpkins, and Cosmology 11
6. 2. A Special Theory 20
7. 3. General Relativity, the Basis of Cosmology 29
8. 4. The Expanding Universe 47
9. 5. Cosmology’s Rosetta Stone: The Cosmic Background Radiation 63
10. 6. The Primeval Cauldron 76
11. 7. Dark Universe 93
12. 8. Darker Universe 105
13. 9. Galaxies Exist and So Do We 116
14. 10. The Universal Pipe Organ 126
15. 11. The First Blink: Cosmic Inflation 142
16. 12. To Inflate or Not to Inflate 156
17. 13. Crunches and Bounces 167
18. 14. Why Quantum Gravity? 176
19. 15. Multiverses and Metaphysics 195
20. Further Reading 209
21. Acknowledgments 213
22. Index 215