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17 votes
1 answer
3k views

Why do cosmologists assume that inflation began shortly after the Big Bang, rather than at the exact start?

Somehow, I have never come across an explanation of why cosmologists claim that the alleged inflation of the very early universe occurred not at the Big Bang, but very shortly afterwards (~10^-36 to ...
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13 votes
4 answers
6k views

How can a black hole have a charge, or be charged?

So-called 'hairless' black holes (no-hair theory, or theorem?) , which is what real black holes are, can be described by just three characteristics: Mass, spin, and charge. It is easy enough to ...
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2 votes
1 answer
853 views

What is the 'scale factor' equation for a dark-matter dominated universe?

The Friedmann equations can be solved exactly in presence of a perfect fluid with equation of state $${\displaystyle p=w\rho c^{2}} \qquad p=w\rho c^2$$ where ${\displaystyle p}$ is the pressure, ${\...
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