Inflationary Epoch

Cosmic Inflation
After Grand Unification things really started to get interesting. Enter the universe's Inflationary Epoch, which took place between 10^-36 to 10^-32 seconds after the big bang. During the inflationary epic the strong nuclear force broke off from the weak nuclear and electromagnetic forces. This is thought to have triggered a rapid inflation of the universe into the empty space that surrounded it due to the enormous amount of energy released during this process. The universe began to expand exponentially during this time period, and with that the temperature began to drop quickly as well. To get an idea of just how small the universe was up to this period, ponder this: It is estimated the increase in size during the inflationary period was by a factor of around 10^26. However, this increase in size amounted to a final width of just 10 centimeters. It is extremely hard to comprehend a universe that was this small containing all the energy in the known universe, and almost gives notion that the concept of "size" is extremely subjective and almost meaningless.


                                                            
http://www.toequest.com/forum/chat-sessions/1660-2006-04-22-cosmic-inflation.html

Faster Than the Speed of Light?!
We are well accustomed to the speed of light, 3.0x10^8m/s, which serves as the speed limit of the universe. However, in order for the universe to have expanded by such a large factor in such a small time period it had to have been moving much faster than light-speed. The absolute maximum of velocity (3.0x10^8) postulated by Einsteins Theory of Relativity is an absolute law for energy and matter. However, distortions of space time (in this case, the universe's expansion) can be faster than the speed of light, according to inflation theory. The elementary matter particles and energy inside of the universe at this point in time is much like you traveling in a car. While its not physically possible for you to run 100km/h, you can be inside the car as it travels this speed.