When we speak of the expanding, accelerating universe, how might we frame it? Perhaps we could frame it like this:
The start-point of time is like the moment we stop a speeding car by pressing our foot to the brake.
As we ease our foot off the brake—”inflation”—two things are happening at once.
As time moves from zero to one, acceleration is moving from one to zero.
Then, the frame flips.
As acceleration moves from zero to one, time moves from one to zero.
Then it flips again.
Here we see hot and cold regions that flip along the ecliptic in our Cosmic Microwave Background:
Large-angle anomalies in our Cosmic Microwave Background.
Image: Craig J. Copi
The full moon feels like the start-point of time to me—the foot pressed to the brake all the way—where the exploding force and the opposing force are both at their highest.
The new moon feels like the opposite—the foot lifted all the way off the brake—where the exploding force and the opposing force are both at their lowest.
