Proposed physical mechanism that gives rise to cosmic inflation.

Early in the Universe a chemical equilibrium exists between photons and electron-positron ([Formula: see text]) pairs. In the electron Born self-energy (eBse) model the [Formula: see text] plasma falls out of equilibrium above a glass transition temperature [Formula: see text] determined by the maximum electron/positron number density of [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] is the electron radius. In the glassy phase ([Formula: see text]) the Universe undergoes exponential acceleration, characteristic of cosmic inflation, with a constant potential energy density [Formula: see text]. At lower temperatures [Formula: see text] photon-[Formula: see text] chemical equilibrium is restored and the glassy phase gracefully exits to the [Formula: see text] cosmological model when the equation of state [Formula: see text], corresponding to a cross-over temperature [Formula: see text]. In the eBse model the inflaton scalar field is temperature [Formula: see text] where the potential energy density [Formula: see text] is a plateau potential, in agreement with Planck collaboration 2013 findings. There are no free parameters that require fine tuning to give cosmic inflation in the eBse model.