2003/03/12 by Arthur Lue, Glenn D. Starkman, Lue, Arthur +3
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Economic, financial, and policy analysis #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0303268
13 pages revtex
arxiv created 2003/03/12 · openalex publication_date 2003/03/12 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Recent results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe have been called a corroboration, or even a confirmation, of inflation. Yet, the results include features that require, at least, a significant distortion of what is usually meant by inflation. At the same time, critics have leveled the charge that inflation is an arbitrarily pliable theory and is therefore beyond proof or disproof. This startling dissonance in attitudes toward inflation seems to have grown out of the lack of a clear framework with which to evaluate the inflationary paradigm. In this rhetorical pamphlet we reexamine the inflationary paradigm, attempt to articulate explicitly how the paradigm and its descendant models are falsifiable, and make a sober assessment of the successes and failures of inflation.