A model of the inflationary universe that can be solved exactly

Inflationary models are currently the best attempt to describe the early stages of the Universe’s development and are based
on the hypothesis that, immediately after the Big Bang, there was an accelerated expansion of the Universe. Among the many mechanisms that lead
to inflation, the most common is based on models of gravity minimally coupled to a scalar field moving along a particular
potential. I present such a model of the Universe that admits exact cosmological solutions describing an initially
inflationary behaviour evolving into a classical power-law expansion.
In the figure: Graph of the expansion of the Universe with inflation.

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Today, Astro Chiacchiere! is an informal meeting among the staff of the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory (staff, postdocs, and students), aimed at discussing topics mainly of a scientific, technological, and informational nature about the Observatory’s activities. The meeting usually takes place on Tuesdays at 11:30 AM in the Auditorium of the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory. For information and/or contributions, contact vvacca@oa-cagliari.inaf.it and surcis@oa-cagliari.inaf.it