expansion

After Inflation, the universe was a seething plasma of high-energy radiation. This is where the classical big bang theory becomes valid. The expansion was incredibly rapid, but it was nothing compared to the preceding era. The difference between the big bang and inflation has been described as "like a hand grenade going off in the middle of a nuclear bomb". There were probably lots of exotic particles being created and destroyed by quantum interactions, but little is known of this time because it is beyond the range of current particle accelerators.

- Fx