From inflation to dark energy through a dynamical Lambda: an attempt at alleviating fundamental cosmic puzzles

Understand

After decades of successful hot big-bang paradigm, Cosmology still lacks a framework in which the early inflationary phase of the universe smoothly matches the radiation epoch and evolves to the present `quasi' de Sitter spacetime.

• No less intriguing is that the current value of the effective vacuum energy density is vastly smaller than the value that triggered inflation.
• In this Essay we propose a new class of cosmologies capable of overcoming, or highly alleviating, some of these acute cosmic puzzles.
• Powered by a decaying vacuum energy density, the spacetime emerges from a pure nonsingular de Sitter vacuum stage, "gracefully" exits from inflation to a radiation phase followed by dark matter and vacuum regimes, and, finally, evolves to a late time de Sitter phase.