ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will pull together some earlier threads and consider one of the most dramatic examples of how particle physics impacts on our consideration of cosmology: inflation. This extraordinary period of hyper expansion was driven by a background field similar to the Higgs field that we have already discussed, a discovery made by Alan Guth while he was applying GUT ideas to cosmology. The attraction of the inflationary scenario is the elegant manner in which it explains some puzzles arising from the Λ-CDM model.
