In: Physics
The Inflation Theory or Inflationary theory(as asked in question)is a theory developed by Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Paul Steinhardt, and Andy Albrecht, according to which the universe underwent extremely rapid expansion after an original event called the big bang, and has been expanding ever since.Inflation was both rapid, and strong. It increased the linear size of the universe by more than 60 "e-folds", or a factor of ~10^26 in only a small fraction of a second! Inflation is now considered an extension of the Big Bang theory.
The implication is that this theory predicts some traits—such as the uniform distribution of energy and the flat geometry of spacetime—which was not previously explained within the framework of the big bang theory.
Moreover, Inflation Theory links important ideas in modern physics, such as symmetry breaking and phase transitions, to cosmology.