And as its value decreases, the energy and negative pressure it harbors dissipate, bringing an end to the period of blistering expansion. Just as important, the energy released by the inflaton field isn’t lost—instead, like a cooling vat of steam condensing into water droplets, the inflaton’s energy condenses into a uniform bath of particles that fill space. This two-step process—brief but rapid expansion, followed by energy conversion to particles—results in a huge, uniform spatial expanse that’s filled with the raw material of familiar structures like stars and galaxies.
