There are no such things as virtual particles. Virtual particles are more of the absurd nonsense made up by mainstream physicists because they are unable to understand aether has mass and physically occupies three dimensional space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect#Vacuum_energy
"a "field" in physics may be envisioned as if space were filled with interconnected vibrating balls and springs, and the strength of the field can be visualized as the displacement of a ball from its rest position"
A 'field' in physics is space filled with aether and the strength of the field is the displacement of the aether from its rest position.
Each of the plates in the Casimir effect displace the aether. The displaced aether which exists between the plates is pushing back toward each of the plates which causes the aether displaced by each of the plates which exists between the plates to offset. This aether is more at rest than the aether which is displaced by the plates which encompasses the plates. The reduced force associated with the aether which exists between the plates along with the displaced aether which encompasses the plates which is pushing back and exerting inward pressure toward the plates causes the plates to be forced together.
What occurs physically in nature in the Casimir effect is the same phenomenon as gravity.
There is no such thing as non-baryonic dark matter. Aether has mass and physically occupies three dimensional space. Aether is physically displaced by matter.
Displaced aether pushing back and exerting inward pressure toward matter is gravity.
'Was the universe born spinning?'
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/46688
"The universe was born spinning and continues to do so around a preferred axis"
The Universe spins around a preferred axis because the Universe is, or the local Universe we exist in is in, a jet; a larger version of a black hole polar jet.
'Mysterious Cosmic 'Dark Flow' Tracked Deeper into Universe'
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-023.html
'The clusters appear to be moving along a line extending from our solar system toward Centaurus/Hydra, but the direction of this motion is less certain. Evidence indicates that the clusters are headed outward along this path, away from Earth, but the team cannot yet rule out the opposite flow. "We detect motion along this axis, but right now our data cannot state as strongly as we'd like whether the clusters are coming or going," Kashlinsky said.'
The clusters are headed along this path because the Universe is, or the local Universe we exist in is in, a jet.
The following is an image analogous of the Universal jet.
http://aether.lbl.gov/image_all.html
The reason for the 'expansion' of the universe is the continual emission of aether into the Universal jet. Three dimensional space associated with the Universe itself is not expanding. What we see in our telescopes is the matter associated with the Universe moving outward and away from the Universal jet emission point. In the image above, '1st Stars' is where aether condenses into matter.
Dark energy is aether emitted into the Universal jet.
It's not the Big Bang; it's the Big Ongoing.