In the first trillionth of a second, the four fundamental forces of nature—, Electromagnetism , and the Strong and Weak Nuclear forces —were unified as one. As the universe expanded and cooled, these forces "untangled," and the first particles of matter began to form. A crucial cosmic coincidence occurred when matter slightly outnumbered antimatter by a billion-to-one ratio; if they had been perfectly equal, they would have completely annihilated each other, leaving nothing behind but light. Invisible Architects: Dark Matter and Dark Energy
The following story condenses the major scientific and philosophical milestones detailed in Neil deGrasse Tyson's . The Cosmic Origin Story Astrophysics For People In A Hurry
Fourteen billion years ago, everything we’ve ever known—every star, planet, and person—was packed into a space smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. In an event known as the , this tiny, hot, and incredibly dense point began to rapidly expand. In the first trillionth of a second, the
Discovered much later, this mysterious force acts as a "cosmological constant" that is currently driving the universe's expansion to accelerate. The Cosmic Perspective Invisible Architects: Dark Matter and Dark Energy The