Initial conditions for cold dark matter particles and General Relativity

We describe the irrotational dust component of the universe in terms of a relativistic gradient expansion and transform the resulting synchronous metric to a Newtonian coordinate system. The two metrics are connected via a space-like displacement field and a time-like perturbation, providing a relativistic generalization of the transformation from Lagrangian to Eulerian coordinates. The relativistic part of the displacement field generates already at initial time a non-local density perturbation at second order. This is a purely relativistic effect since it originates from space-time mixing. We give two options, the passive and the active approach, on how to include the relativistic corrections for example in N-body simulations. In the passive approach we treat the corrections as a non-Gaussian modification of the initial Gaussian field (primordial non-Gaussianity could be incorporated as well). The induced non-Gaussianity depends on scale and the redshift at which initial conditions are set, with f_NL ~ few for small enough scales and redshifts. In the active approach we show how to use the relativistic trajectory to obtain the initial displacement and velocity of particles for N-body simulations without modifying the initial Gaussian field.Comment: Title adjusted, added a table for clarity, matches published versio

Zel'dovich approximation and General Relativity

We show how the Zel'dovich approximation and the second order displacement field of Lagrangian perturbation theory can be obtained from a general relativistic gradient expansion in \Lambda{}CDM cosmology. The displacement field arises as a result of a second order non-local coordinate transformation which brings the synchronous/comoving metric into a Newtonian form. We find that, with a small modification, the Zel'dovich approximation holds even on scales comparable to the horizon. The corresponding density perturbation is not related to the Newtonian potential via the usual Poisson equation but via a modified Helmholtz equation. This is a consequence of causality not present in the Newtonian theory. The second order displacement field receives relativistic corrections that are subdominant on short scales but are comparable to the second order Newtonian result on scales approaching the horizon. The corrections are easy to include when setting up initial conditions in large N-body simulations.Comment: 5 pages, corrected a typo, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Self Regulation of Infrared Correlations for Massless Scalar Fields during Inflation

Self-energies of a minimally coupled scalar field with quartic and trilinear interactions are calculated in a de Sitter background, using a position space propagator. For quartic interactions, we recover earlier results for the seagull diagram, namely that it contributes an effective mass for the scalar field at leading order in the infrared enhancement in a steady-state de Sitter background. We further show that the sunset diagram also contributes to this effective mass and argue that these two contributions are sufficient in order to determine a self-consistent dynamical mass. In addition, trilinear interactions also induce a dynamical mass for the scalar field which we calculate. Since an interacting scalar field in de Sitter acquires a dynamical mass through these loop corrections, the infrared divergences of the two-point correlator are naturally self-regulated.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Modelling of soot formation in laminar diffusion flames using a comprehensive CFD-PBE model with detailed gas-phase chemistry

A discretised population balance equation (PBE) is coupled with an in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code in order to model soot formation in laminar diffusion flames. The unsteady Navier–Stokes, species and enthalpy transport equations and the spatially-distributed discretised PBE for the soot particles are solved in a coupled manner, together with comprehensive gas-phase chemistry and an optically thin radiation model, thus yielding the complete particle size distribution of the soot particles. Nucleation, surface growth and oxidation are incorporated into the PBE using an acetylene-based soot model. The potential of the proposed methodology is investigated by comparing with experimental results from the Santoro jet burner [Santoro, Semerjian and Dobbins, Soot particle measurements in diffusion flames, Combustion and Flame, Vol. 51 (1983), pp. 203–218; Santoro, Yeh, Horvath and Semerjian, The transport and growth of soot particles in laminar diffusion flames, Combustion Science and Technology, Vol. 53 (1987), pp. 89–115] for three laminar axisymmetric non-premixed ethylene flames: a non-smoking, an incipient smoking and a smoking flame. Overall, good agreement is observed between the numerical and the experimental results

On the accuracy of N-body simulations at very large scales

We examine the deviation of Cold Dark Matter particle trajectories from the Newtonian result as the size of the region under study becomes comparable to or exceeds the particle horizon. To first order in the gravitational potential, the general relativistic result coincides with the Zel'dovich approximation and hence the Newtonian prediction on all scales. At second order, General Relativity predicts corrections which overtake the corresponding second order Newtonian terms above a certain scale of the order of the Hubble radius. However, since second order corrections are very much suppressed on such scales, we conclude that simulations which exceed the particle horizon but use Newtonian equations to evolve the particles, reproduce the correct trajectories very well. The dominant relativistic corrections to the power spectrum on scales close to the horizon are at most of the order of $\sim 10^{-5}$ at $z=49$ and $\sim 10^{-3}$ at $z=0$. The differences in the positions of real space features are affected at a level below $10^{-6}$ at both redshifts. Our analysis also clarifies the relation of N-body results to relativistic considerations.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; v2: 7 pages, 3 figures, matches version published in MNRA

Fluctuations along supersymmetric flat directions during Inflation

We consider a set of scalar fields, consisting of a single flat direction and one or several non-flat directions. We take our cue from the MSSM, considering separately D-flat and F-flat directions, but our results apply to any supersymmetric scenario containing flat directions. We study the field fluctuations during pure de Sitter Inflation, following the evolution of the infrared modes by numerically solving the appropriate Langevin equations. We demonstrate that for the Standard Model U(1), SU(2) or SU(3) gauge couplings, as well as for large enough Yukawa couplings, the fluctuations along the non-flat directions effectively block the fluctuations along the flat directions. The usual expected behaviour \propto N, with N the number of efolds, may be strongly violated, depending on the coupling strengths. As a consequence, those cosmological considerations, which are derived assuming that during inflation flat directions fluctuate freely, should be revised.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to JCA