Inflationary Potentials

Inflationary potentials refer to the energy landscape that drives the rapid expansion of the early universe, known as cosmic inflation. Imagine a ball rolling on a hilly terrain; the shape of the terrain (the potential) determines how the ball moves. Similarly, the inflationary potential represents the energy stored in a field that caused space itself to stretch exponentially. As the field evolves down its potential, this energy powers the universe’s swift growth, smoothing out irregularities and setting initial conditions for the cosmos we observe today. Different shapes of these potentials lead to different predictions about the universe's large-scale structure.