Testing Inflation: A Bootstrap Approach

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new observational testing protocol for the inflationary universe model, focusing on a closure condition linking early accelerated expansion to subsequent deceleration.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic bootstrap-based method to empirically verify the inflationary closure condition using observational data.

Findings

Provides a framework for testing inflationary models observationally

Connects early universe expansion to later deceleration through a measurable condition

Enables validation or falsification of inflation scenarios

Abstract

We note that the essential idea of inflation, that the universe underwent a brief period of accelerated expansion followed by a long period of decelerated expansion, can be encapsulated in a "closure condition" which relates the amount of accelerated expansion during inflation to the amount of decelerated expansion afterward. We present a protocol for systematically testing the validity of this condition observationally.