Nothing can go faster than the speed of light, then how at the time of inflation space expanded faster than the speed of light? Clearly universe had already begun at the start (10−36 seconds) of inflationary epoch.
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Qmechanic
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Sembiyan S.R
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1space can very well expand faster than the speed of light. In fact, galaxies are expanding away from us faster than the speed of light as we speak. The speed of light is a local cosmic limit. – Neuromeda Feb 17 '16 at 17:28
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2Possible duplicates: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/26549/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Feb 17 '16 at 17:37
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4Possible duplicate of Superluminal expansion of the early universe how is this possible? – Danu Feb 17 '16 at 17:47
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2Possible duplicate of: How is it possible the universe expanded faster than the speed of light during inflation? – John Rennie Feb 17 '16 at 17:47
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1Or for a more technical duplicate see: Can space expand with unlimited speed? – John Rennie Feb 17 '16 at 17:52
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It's really meaningful to talk about the "speed of the expansion of space", because space is everywhere and there is nothing to compare its speed to.
We can say that "space is expanding, and as a result of this, two stars have an apparent relative velocity that is greater than the speed of light", but this is a bit different, and it also doesn't require that they be moving relative to the space near them.
Zo the Relativist
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Light (or anything else) cannot go faster than light in space. Nothing prevents space from expanding faster than light. From the big bang the universe has expanded, meaning space has expanded. The universe did not expand inside space, as there was no space to expand in. The inflationary period was a period of very rapid expansion of space, not inside space.
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