Proposed physical mechanism that gives rise to cosmic inflation

Abstract

AbstractEarly in the Universe a chemical equilibrium exists between photons and electron–positron ($$e^{ - } e^{ + }$$ e - e + ) pairs. In the electron Born self-energy (eBse) model the $$e^{ - } e^{ + }$$ e - e + plasma falls out of equilibrium above a glass transition temperature $$T_{G} = 1.06 \times 10^{17} K$$ T G = 1.06 × 10 17 K determined by the maximum electron/positron number density of $$1/(2R_{e} )^{3}$$ 1 / ( 2 R e ) 3 where $$R_{e}$$ R e is the electron radius. In the glassy phase ($$T > T_{G}$$ T > T G ) the Universe undergoes exponential acceleration, characteristic of cosmic inflation, with a constant potential energy density $$\psi_{G} = 1.9 \times 10^{50} J/m^{3}$$ ψ G = 1.9 × 10 50 J / m 3 . At lower temperatures $$T < T_{G}$$ T < T G photon-$$e^{ - } e^{ + }$$ e - e + chemical equilibrium is restored and the glassy phase gracefully exits to the $$\Lambda CDM$$ Λ C D M cosmological model when the equation of state $$w = 1/3$$ w = 1 / 3 , corresponding to a cross-over temperature $$T_{X} = 0.94 \times 10^{17} K$$ T X = 0.94 × 10 17 K . In the eBse model the inflaton scalar field is temperature $$T$$ T where the potential energy density $$\psi (T)$$ ψ ( T ) is a plateau potential, in agreement with Planck collaboration 2013 findings. There are no free parameters that require fine tuning to give cosmic inflation in the eBse model.