Cosmic Inflation: How the Universe Began - An Introduction

Explore the fascinating theory of cosmic inflation and its role in explaining the early universe in this comprehensive lecture by astronomer David Mulryne. Delve into the limitations of the hot big bang model and examine alternative ideas about the universe's origin. Learn about the expansion of the universe, general relativity, and key concepts like the flatness problem and horizon problem. Discover how cosmic inflation addresses these issues and potentially explains the origin of cosmic structure. Gain insights into cutting-edge cosmological research and the ongoing quest to understand what happened before the hot big bang.

Introduction
The expansion of the universe
The size of the universe
The nonuniverse
The law of homogeneity
General relativity
Time
The flatness problem
Cosmic inflation
Horizon scale
Flatness problem
Horizon problem
Scalar field
The origin of structure