Abstract
While the use of numerical general relativity for modeling astrophysical phenomena and compact objects is commonplace, the application to cosmological scenarios is only just beginning. Here, we examine the expansion of a spacetime using the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura formalism of numerical relativity in synchronous gauge. This work represents the first numerical cosmological study that is fully relativistic, nonlinear, and without symmetry. The universe that emerges exhibits an average Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) behavior; however, this universe also exhibits locally inhomogeneous expansion beyond that expected in linear perturbation theory around a FLRW background.
- Received 17 November 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.251301
© 2016 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Synopsis
A Relativistic View of a Clumpy Universe
Published 24 June 2016
Cosmologists have begun using fully relativistic models to understand the effects of inhomogeneous matter distribution on the evolution of the Universe.
See more in Physics