Has relativity been factored into the speed of inflation?

[PJay_A]

It just occured to me that our observations for the speed of the expansion of the Universe (dare I say) could be wrong when put into context of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. According to Einstein, time and the speed of anything that moves is all relative; therefore, Inflation Theory and any measurements that calculate the expansion of the Universe must factor in that expansion and speed thereof is relative to all space-time. I guess my question is if Inflation Theory's calculation of the speed of the expansion of the Universe factors in the Universe' "relative" expansion. If relativity is calculated, then not even inflation may exceed the speed of light, if Einstein is correct. I'm assuming that Inflation Theory sees expansion as an oddity existing outside the realm of all that which is relative. If so, then Relativaty - as a theory - is either wrong of incomplete; or Inflation Theory is wrong and must be reworked within relativity.

 

[origin]

Special relativity adresses things that are moving in the universe. Expansion adresses the growth of the universe and so this is outside of the boundries that are placed on the therory of special relativity. In other words [special] relativity has no role in the expansion of the universe - which is one reason that recession speeds can exceed the speed of light.

One other point - I assume that you mean expansion when you say inflation. The term inflation really applies to the time of extremely rapid expansion that occurred for a fraction of a second in the first second after the big bang.

edited to add the term 'special' to the last time I refered to relativity.

 

[SpeedFreek]

Crikey! There are a few misconceptions flying around here!

The expansion (or contraction) of the universe is predicted by General Relativity.

 

[SpeedFreek]

edited to add the term 'special' to the last time I refered to relativity.

Sorry origin, I was referring more to the OP than to your reply.

 

[Couerl]

Hi, I was under the impression that relativity or at least the laws governing it were not yet actually at play during the moment(s) of inflation and that the 4 forces had not yet seperated to become individual forces and as such, there weren't really any "laws" (such as the speed of light) to break. Is this correct?

 

[SpeedFreek]

Yes, that is correct.

But it is unclear as to whether the OP is talking about inflation theory, which only describes what happened during a fraction a second at the beginning of time, or the expansion of the universe in general.

 

[origin]

edited to add the term 'special' to the last time I refered to relativity.

Sorry origin, I was referring more to the OP than to your reply.

No problem - your comment helped me to clarify my post. My answer was based on guesses at what the poster was trying to say anyway, nothing in the thread is all that clear...