Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmocrazy
If this were the case then the four known forces of nature balance out this inflation to keep matter in the form that we observe, therefore becoming the cosmological constant?
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Yes the balance between the four forces result in the universe we observe.
The cosmological constant was cooked up by Einstein because his calculations predicted the universe must expand or contract, but he didn't trust them - he favoured a static eternal universe. The constant was a correction of sorts to counteract the predicted expansion or contraction. When Hubble showed the universe
was expanding, Einstein quietly erased the cosmological constant.
But then, the expansion was observed to be
accelerating. Welcome back cosmological constant. I don't think scientists have a good handle on what it is, but I've often seen references to a kind of 'vacuum energy' of space, or perhaps it is a vestige of the force that drove inflation. There seems to be some consensus the rate of acceleration varies over time.