Guth A H
Center for Theoretical Physics, Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jun 1;90(11):4871-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.11.4871.
A short review of inflation is given, starting with a description of the underlying mechanism and the scenario of events. Four variations--old inflation, new inflation, chaotic inflation, and extended inflation--are discussed. It is claimed that the inflationary model provides a plausible explanation for (i) the large number of particles in the universe, (ii) the Hubble expansion, (iii) the large-scale uniformity of the universe, (iv) the nearness of the universe to a critical density, (v) the absence of magnetic monopoles, and (vi) the scale-invariant spectrum of microwave background fluctuations observed by COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer). Finally, it is argued that the plausibility of inflation is enhanced by the fact that inflation is eternal.
本文首先对暴胀的基本机制和事件场景进行了描述，进而对暴胀进行了简要回顾。文中讨论了四种变体——旧暴胀、新暴胀、混沌暴胀和扩展暴胀。有人认为，暴胀模型为以下几点提供了合理的解释：（i）宇宙中大量的粒子；（ii）哈勃膨胀；（iii）宇宙的大尺度均匀性；（iv）宇宙与临界密度的接近程度；（v）磁单极子的缺失；（vi）宇宙背景探测器（COBE）观测到的微波背景涨落的标度不变谱。最后，有人认为，暴胀是永恒的这一事实增强了暴胀的合理性。
