223 research outputs found
Redshift Drift in LTB Void Universes
We study the redshift drift, i.e., the time derivative of the cosmological
redshift in the Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) solution in which the observer is
assumed to be located at the symmetry center. This solution has often been
studied as an anti-Copernican universe model to explain the acceleration of
cosmic volume expansion without introducing the concept of dark energy. One of
decisive differences between LTB universe models and Copernican universe models
with dark energy is believed to be the redshift drift. The redshift drift is
negative in all known LTB universe models, whereas it is positive in the
redshift domain in Copernican models with dark energy. However,
there have been no detailed studies on this subject. In the present paper, we
prove that the redshift drift of an off-center source is always negative in the
case of LTB void models. We also show that the redshift drift can be positive
with an extremely large hump-type inhomogeneity. Our results suggest that we
can determine whether we live near the center of a large void without dark
energy by observing the redshift drift.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure
Precision cosmology defeats void models for acceleration
The suggestion that we occupy a privileged position near the centre of a
large, nonlinear, and nearly spherical void has recently attracted much
attention as an alternative to dark energy. Putting aside the philosophical
problems with this scenario, we perform the most complete and up-to-date
comparison with cosmological data. We use supernovae and the full cosmic
microwave background spectrum as the basis of our analysis. We also include
constraints from radial baryonic acoustic oscillations, the local Hubble rate,
age, big bang nucleosynthesis, the Compton y-distortion, and for the first time
include the local amplitude of matter fluctuations, \sigma_8. These all paint a
consistent picture in which voids are in severe tension with the data. In
particular, void models predict a very low local Hubble rate, suffer from an
"old age problem", and predict much less local structure than is observed.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures; v2 adds models in closed backgrounds;
conclusions strengthened; version accepted to Phys. Rev.
Role of initial data in spherical collapse
We bring out here the role of initial data in causing the black hole and
naked singularity phases as the final end state of a continual gravitational
collapse. The collapse of a type I general matter field is considered, which
includes most of the known physical forms of matter. It is shown that given the
distribution of the density and pressure profiles at the initial surface from
which the collapse evolves, there is a freedom in choosing rest of the free
functions, such as the velocities of the collapsing shells, so that the end
state could be either a black hole or a naked singularity depending on this
choice. It is thus seen that it is the initial data that determines the end
state of spherical collapse in terms of these outcomes, and we get a good
picture of how these phases come about.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex4, Revised version, To appear in Physical Review
Can the Copernican principle be tested by cosmic neutrino background?
The Copernican principle, stating that we do not occupy any special place in
our universe, is usually taken for granted in modern cosmology. However recent
observational data of supernova indicate that we may live in the under-dense
center of our universe, which makes the Copernican principle challenged. It
thus becomes urgent and important to test the Copernican principle via
cosmological observations. Taking into account that unlike the cosmic photons,
the cosmic neutrinos of different energies come from the different places to us
along the different worldlines, we here propose cosmic neutrino background as a
test of the Copernican principle. It is shown that from the theoretical
perspective cosmic neutrino background can allow one to determine whether the
Copernican principle is valid or not, but to implement such an observation the
larger neutrino detectors are called for.Comment: JHEP style, 10 pages, 4 figures, version to appear in JCA
The growth of structure in the Szekeres inhomogeneous cosmological models and the matter-dominated era
This study belongs to a series devoted to using Szekeres inhomogeneous models
to develop a theoretical framework where observations can be investigated with
a wider range of possible interpretations. We look here into the growth of
large-scale structure in the models. The Szekeres models are exact solutions to
Einstein's equations that were originally derived with no symmetries. We use a
formulation of the models that is due to Goode and Wainwright, who considered
the models as exact perturbations of an FLRW background. Using the Raychaudhuri
equation, we write for the two classes of the models, exact growth equations in
terms of the under/overdensity and measurable cosmological parameters. The new
equations in the overdensity split into two informative parts. The first part,
while exact, is identical to the growth equation in the usual linearly
perturbed FLRW models, while the second part constitutes exact non-linear
perturbations. We integrate numerically the full exact growth rate equations
for the flat and curved cases. We find that for the matter-dominated era, the
Szekeres growth rate is up to a factor of three to five stronger than the usual
linearly perturbed FLRW cases, reflecting the effect of exact Szekeres
non-linear perturbations. The growth is also stronger than that of the
non-linear spherical collapse model, and the difference between the two
increases with time. This highlights the distinction when we use general
inhomogeneous models where shear and a tidal gravitational field are present
and contribute to the gravitational clustering. Additionally, it is worth
observing that the enhancement of the growth found in the Szekeres models
during the matter-dominated era could suggest a substitute to the argument that
dark matter is needed when using FLRW models to explain the enhanced growth and
resulting large-scale structures that we observe today (abridged)Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, matches PRD accepted versio
Testing homogeneity with galaxy number counts : light-cone metric and general low-redshift expansion for a central observer in a matter dominated isotropic universe without cosmological constant
As an alternative to dark energy it has been suggested that we may be at the
center of an inhomogeneous isotropic universe described by a
Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) solution of Einstein's field equations. In order to
test this hypothesis we calculate the general analytical formula to fifth order
for the redshift spherical shell mass. Using the same analytical method we
write the metric in the light-cone by introducing a gauge invariant quantity
which together with the luminosity distance completely
determine the light-cone geometry of a LTB model.Comment: 13 page
Reconciling the local void with the CMB
In the standard cosmological model, the dimming of distant Type Ia supernovae
is explained by invoking the existence of repulsive `dark energy' which is
causing the Hubble expansion to accelerate. However this may be an artifact of
interpreting the data in an (oversimplified) homogeneous model universe. In the
simplest inhomogeneous model which fits the SNe Ia Hubble diagram without dark
energy, we are located close to the centre of a void modelled by a
Lema\'itre-Tolman-Bondi metric. It has been claimed that such models cannot fit
the CMB and other cosmological data. This is however based on the assumption of
a scale-free spectrum for the primordial density perturbation. An alternative
physically motivated form for the spectrum enables a good fit to both SNe Ia
(Constitution/Union2) and CMB (WMAP 7-yr) data, and to the locally measured
Hubble parameter. Constraints from baryon acoustic oscillations and primordial
nucleosynthesis are also satisfied.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Typos corrected and missing references added.
Matches the published version in PR
Inhomogeneities in dusty universe - a possible alternative to dark energy?
There have been of late renewed debates on the role of inhomogeneities to
explain the observed late acceleration of the universe. We have looked into the
problem analytically with the help of the well known spherically symmetric but
inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi(LTB) model generalised to higher
dimensions. It is observed that in contrast to the claim made by Kolb et al the
presence of inhomogeneities as well as extra dimensions can not reverse the
signature of the deceleration parameter if the matter field obeys the energy
conditions. The well known Raychaudhuri equation also points to the same
result. Without solving the field equations explicitly it can, however, be
shown that although the total deceleration is positive everywhere nevertheless
it does not exclude the possibility of having radial acceleration, even in the
pure dust universe, if the angular scale factor is decelerating fast enough and
vice versa. Moreover it is found that introduction of extra dimensions can not
reverse the scenario. To the contrary it actually helps the decelerating
process.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Can the cosmological constant be mimicked by smooth large-scale inhomogeneities for more than one observable?
As an alternative to dark energy it has been suggested that we may be at the
center of an inhomogeneous isotropic universe described by a
Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) solution of Einstein's field equations. In order to
test such an hypothesis we calculate the low redshift expansion of the
luminosity distance and the redshift spherical shell mass density
for a central observer in a LTB space without cosmological constant and
show how they cannot fit the observations implied by a model if
the conditions to avoid a weak central singularity are imposed, i.e. if the
matter distribution is smooth everywhere. Our conclusions are valid for any
value of the cosmological constant, not only for as
implied by previous proofs that has to be positive in a smooth LTB
space, based on considering only the luminosity distance.
The observational signatures of smooth LTB matter dominated models are
fundamentally different from the ones of models not only because
it is not possible to reproduce a negative apparent central deceleration
, but because of deeper differences in their space-time geometry
which make impossible the inversion problem when more than one observable is
considered, and emerge at any redshift, not only for .Comment: 18 pages, corrected a typo in the definition of the energy density
which doesn't change the conclusion, references adde
Spherical Dust Collapse in Higher Dimensions
We consider here the question if it is possible to recover cosmic censorship
when a transition is made to higher dimensional spacetimes, by studying the
spherically symmetric dust collapse in an arbitrary higher spacetime dimension.
It is pointed out that if only black holes are to result as end state of a
continual gravitational collapse, several conditions must be imposed on the
collapsing configuration, some of which may appear to be restrictive, and we
need to study carefully if these can be suitably motivated physically in a
realistic collapse scenario. It would appear that in a generic higher
dimensional dust collapse, both black holes and naked singularities would
develop as end states as indicated by the results here. The mathematical
approach developed here generalizes and unifies the earlier available results
on higher dimensional dust collapse as we point out. Further, the dependence of
black hole or naked singularity end states as collapse outcomes, on the nature
of the initial data from which the collapse develops, is brought out explicitly
and in a transparent manner as we show here. Our method also allows us to
consider here in some detail the genericity and stability aspects related to
the occurrence of naked singularities in gravitational collapse.Comment: Revtex4, Title changed, To appear in Physical Review
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