Is Dark Energy Born at the Big Bang or Continually Created?

[Ken Lehn]

TL;DR

Was all dark energy "born" at the moment of the Big Bang? Or does it "spring" into existence continually?

Was all dark energy "born" at the moment of the Big Bang? Or does it "spring" into existence continually?

 

[phinds]

Summary: Was all dark energy "born" at the moment of the Big Bang? Or does it "spring" into existence continually?

Was all dark energy "born" at the moment of the Big Bang? Or does it "spring" into existence continually?

Dark energy "springs into existence" continuously. The density of dark energy between objects remains the same even though the distances between the (unbound) objects is get larger. That's the sense in which it "springs into existence".

How much there was just after Inflation is not clear (to me anyway) but it was there. It did not become strong enough to overcome gravity until about 5 billion years ago.

The subject is more complex than those statements make it sound.

 

[timmdeeg]

Was all dark energy "born" at the moment of the Big Bang? Or does it "spring" into existence continually?

It is still plausible that dark energy is identical with the Cosmological Constant. The CC is thought to be an intrinsic property of vacuum. People often talk about vacuum energy density. As such it exists as long as the universe exists and its density is constant over time. In other words it doesn't get diluted like matter does if the universe expands.