In the main Cosmic Inflation universe, new space is created exponentially with time.
In roughly 1 out of every 30,000 pieces of "new space", a big bang occurs from a random quantum fluctuation. The big bangs slow down the inflation expansion in a local area that becomes the equivalent of a 'pocket universe'.
There was perhaps an infinite number of big bangs (and dead pocket universes) in the past, and there will be an infinite number of big bangs (and new pocket universes) in the future.
Yes. The Cosmic Inflation universe grows exponentially bigger every tiny fraction of a second. And this has been going on for possibly billions or trillions of years or longer. The number of big bangs and pocket universes created by that is mind boggling.
Is it really “new” space or is it that the space already here is expanding? And how the actual fuck can we do an experiment to figure out the difference?