Cosmic Inflation & Dark Energy

In the first 10⁻³⁵ seconds the universe was so dense that the vacuum hit its absolute maximum stiffness — like compressing a spring all the way to the stop. That created an enormous temporary cosmological constant and drove exponential inflation that smoothed and flattened the universe.

When the fields diluted below the cap, inflation ended instantly — no slow-roll, no reheating problem. The tiny leftover stiffness of the vacuum slowly grows with cosmic size, becoming the gentle dark-energy acceleration we have observed since 1998.

One single mechanism, no extra inflaton field, no fine-tuning.