Final answer:
The current era is not the inflationary epoch; rather, the inflationary epoch happened shortly after the Big Bang, causing rapid expansion of the universe, which is different from the gradual expansion and recent acceleration observed today.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asked whether the current era of the universe is the inflationary epoch. The answer to this is false. The inflationary epoch occurred much earlier in the history of the universe, roughly between 10-36 to 10-32 seconds after the Big Bang, as posited by the Inflationary Hypothesis. During this brief period, the universe is thought to have expanded exponentially. Following this, the universe continued to expand at a more moderate pace. Furthermore, characteristics of the present universe, such as its flatness and uniformity, along with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, lend support to the inflationary universe models. However, it's important to note that today's observations of an accelerating expansion rate of the universe, potentially due to dark matter and dark energy, suggest that this is a different phenomenon than the earlier inflationary epoch.