Thread: Could the inflating universe have exceeded lightspeed?

It's just that inflation seems huge in terms of speed of expansion. Ordinary things (matter, energy) can't exceed C. Some "things" can appear to (certain plasma jets but that's an illusion; or, a beam of light aimed at the moon can be deflected by moving the source, so the beam moves sideways faster than C, but the beam is a construct, a process) Can evolving space itself expand faster than lightspeed under inflation conditions?

i read that as long as there was no propigation of information, it could have traveled faster than c.i would think that for a expansion of about 10^50 in volume in 10^-30 seconds, it would have to.

well from the stand point of the Big Bang the light and particals shooting out would have to go faster than the speed of light atleast that is what is under the current speculation of scientists.

The latest word is that the universe is flat and therefore, by Einstein's field equation, infinite in volume. If it started from a zero volume point singularity and expanded to infinite volume in a finite time (13.7 billion years), this implies that the expansion speed was infinite - which is considerably larger than c.

the limitation of c is from Special Relativity ( SR ) but SR assumes flat and static space. The expansion of the universe is not limited by c because the space is not static ( it is expanding ). There are in fact parts of our universe that are moving away from us faster than the speed of light. BTW ... even though they are moving away from us at faster than the speed of light, the light it is currently shining can in fact eventually reach us.

Originally Posted by Richard Munson

It's just that inflation seems huge in terms of speed of expansion. Ordinary things (matter, energy) can't exceed C. Some "things" can appear to (certain plasma jets but that's an illusion; or, a beam of light aimed at the moon can be deflected by moving the source, so the beam moves sideways faster than C, but the beam is a construct, a process) Can evolving space itself expand faster than lightspeed under inflation conditions?

that new kind of energy that the universe is adsorbing don't have electromagnetism that is way is expending faster then light

Originally Posted by tom

the limitation of c is from Special Relativity ( SR ) but SR assumes flat and static space. ...

This is misleading. The General Theory of Relativity extends the Special Theory rather than contradicts it. At the heart of the General Theory is the Equivalence Principle which explicitly links the effects of high-velocity, gravity, and acceleration.

What if inflation occurred before time existed?, then the "speed" of inflation would be a moot point.

In current physics, space itself is only defined by the existence of matter or energy in it. I mean, you can't describe space or it's properties (size, motion, expansion, etc.) without measuring the effects on matter or energy contained within that space.

Time is a restriction of the mind. We use time to understand physical reality, to maintain a rigidity in our understanding of cause and effect. Time can only flow in one direction, but does so in greatly variable ways due to accelerations and gravitational fields. So, basically time does not exist unless space--with matter or energy in it--also exists.

Thusly, the moment 'expansion' began, 'time' existed! :^D

Given that the size and age of the universe are what they are thought to be:
If it is space/time that is expanding and space/time is defined by the matter/energy in it and the maximum speed of matter/propogation of energy waves, in space, is limited to the speed of light (c)
then (if logic) it must be that space/time expansion is not limited to c - that matter/energy is carried along with the expanding space/time but is not moving faster than c in space.

Is the doppler effect (red shift) explained by the expansion of space/time or by the movement of galaxies, etc away from each other in space?