Einstein energy associated with the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric

Following Einstein’s definition of Lagrangian density and gravitational field energy density (Einstein in Ann Phys Lpz 49:806, 1916, Einstein in Phys Z 19:115, 1918, Pauli in Theory of Relativity, B.I. Publications, Mumbai, 1963), Tolman derived a general formula for the total matter plus gravitational field energy (P ₀) of an arbitrary system (Tolman in Phys Rev 35:875, 1930, Tolman in Relativity, Thermodynamics &; Cosmology, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1962, Xulu in hep-th/0308070, 2003). For a static isolated system, in quasi-Cartesian coordinates, this formula leads to the well known result \({P_0 = \int \sqrt{-g} (T_0^0 - T_1^1 - T_2^2 - T_3^3) d^3 x,}\) where g is the determinant of the metric tensor and \({T^a_b}\) is the energy momentum tensor of the matter. Though in the literature, this is known as “Tolman Mass”, it must be realized that this is essentially “Einstein Mass” because the underlying pseudo-tensor here is due to Einstein. In fact, Landau–Lifshitz obtained the same expression for the “inertial mass” of a static isolated system without using any pseudo-tensor at all and which points to physical significance and correctness of Einstein Mass (Landau, Lifshitz in The Classical Theory of Fields, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1962)! For the first time we apply this general formula to find an expression for P ₀ for the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) metric by using the same quasi-Cartesian basis. As we analyze this new result, it transpires that, physically, a spatially flat model having no cosmological constant is preferred. Eventually, it is seen that conservation of P ₀ is honoured only in the static limit.     

Marginally trapped submanifolds in generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes

In this paper we consider codimension two marginally trapped submanifolds in the family of general Robertson–Walker spacetimes. In particular, we derive some rigidity results for this type of submanifolds which guarantee that, under appropriate hypothesis, the only ones are those contained in slices. We also derive some interesting non-existence results for weakly trapped submanifolds. In particular, we give applications to some cases of physical relevance such as the Einstein-de Sitter spacetime and certain open regions of de Sitter spacetime, including the so called steady state spacetime. Our results will be an application of the (finite) maximum principle for closed manifolds and, more generally, of the weak maximum principle for stochastically complete manifolds.     

Physical basis for the symmetries in the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric

Modern cosmological theory is based on the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) metric. Often written in terms of co-moving coordinates, this well-known solution to Einstein’s equations owes its elegant and highly practical formulation to the cosmological principle and Weyl’s postulate, upon which it is founded. However, there is physics behind such symmetries, and not all of it has yet been recognized. In this paper, we derive the FRW metric coefficients from the general form of the spherically symmetric line element and demonstrate that, because the co-moving frame also happens to be in free fall, the symmetries in FRW are valid only for a medium with zero active mass. In other words, the spacetime of a perfect fluid in cosmology may be correctly written as FRW only when its equation of state is ρ+3p = 0, in terms of the total pressure p and total energy density ρ. There is now compelling observational support for this conclusion, including the Alcock–Paczy´nski test, which shows that only an FRW cosmology with zero active mass is consistent with the latest model-independent baryon acoustic oscillation data.     

A simple characterization of generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes

A generalized Robertson–Walker spacetime is the warped product with base an open interval of the real line endowed with the opposite of its metric and base any Riemannian manifold. The family of generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes widely extends the one of classical Robertson–Walker spacetimes. Further, generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes appear as a privileged class of inhomogeneous spacetimes admitting an isotropic radiation. In this section we prove a very simple characterization of generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes; namely, a Lorentzian manifold is a generalized Robertson–Walker spacetime if and only if it admits a timelike concircular vector field.     

Dynamics of Robertson–Walker spacetimes with diffusion

We study the dynamics of spatially homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes containing a fluid undergoing microscopic velocity diffusion in a cosmological scalar field. After deriving a few exact solutions of the equations, we continue by analyzing the qualitative behavior of general solutions. To this purpose we recast the equations in the form of a two dimensional dynamical system and perform a global analysis of the flow. Among the admissible behaviors, we find solutions that are asymptotically de-Sitter both in the past and future time directions and which undergo accelerated expansion at all times.     

Field-dependent symmetries in Friedmann–Robertson–Walker models

We consider effective actions of the cosmological Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) models and discuss their fermionic rigid BRST invariance. Further, we demonstrate the finite field-dependent BRST transformations as a limiting case of continuous field-dependent BRST transformations described in terms of continuous parameter κ$\kappa$. The Jacobian under such finite field-dependent BRST transformations is computed explicitly, which amounts an extra piece in the effective action within functional integral. We show that for a particular choice of a parameter the finite field-dependent BRST transformation maps the generating functional for FRW models from one gauge to another.     

Unified dark energy from Chiral-Quintom model with a mixed potential in Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker cosmology

The European Physical Journal C - The NANOGrav collaboration has published a suspected stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background signal in its analysis of 12.5 years PTA data, so in this work,...     

Mechanical properties of the thermal equilibrium Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe model

The mechanical property of the thermal-equilibrium Friedmann-Robertson-Walker （TEFRW） universe is first studied. The equation of state and the scale factor of the TEFRW universe take the forms ofw = w（a;zT） and a = a（a;zT,Ho）. For the universe consisting of the nonrelativistic matter and the dark energy, the behavior of the dark energy depends on the value of the present-day matter fraction. For the TEFRW universe consisting of N ingredients, the effective temperature is introduced. Lastly, a simple TEFRW universe model is analyzed.     

The zero active mass condition in Friedmann–Robertson–Walker cosmologies

Many cosmological measurements today suggest that the Universe is expanding at a constant rate. This is inferred from the observed age versus redshift relationship and various distance indicators, all of which point to a cosmic equation of state (EoS) p = -ρ/3, where ρ and p are, respectively, the total energy density and pressure of the cosmic fluid. It has recently been shown that this result is not a coincidence and simply confirms the fact that the symmetries in the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) metric appear to be viable only for a medium with zero active mass, i.e., ρ + 3p = 0. In their latest paper, however, Kim, Lasenby and Hobson (2016) have provided what they believe to be a counter argument to this conclusion. Here, we show that these authors are merely repeating the conventional mistake of incorrectly placing the observer simultaneously in a comoving frame, where the lapse function gtt is coordinate dependent when ρ + 3p ≠ 0, and a supposedly different, freefalling frame, in which g_tt = 1, implying no time dilation. We demonstrate that the Hubble flow is not inertial when ρ + 3p ≠ 0, so the comoving frame is generally not in free fall, even though in FRW, the comoving and free-falling frames are supposed to be identical at every spacetime point. So this confusion of frames not only constitutes an inconsistency with the fundamental tenets of general relativity but, additionally, there is no possibility of using a gauge transformation to select a set of coordinates for which g_tt = 1 when ρ + 3p ≠ 0.     

Global existence of the classical solutions for the inhomogeneous relativistic Boltzmann equation near vacuum in the Robertson–Walker space-time

In this paper, we consider the Cauchy problem for the spatially inhomogeneous relativistic Boltzmann equation with near vacuum initial data. The collision kernel considered here is for the hard potentials case and the background space-time in which the study is done is the Robertson–Walker space-time. Unique global (with respect to the direction of time corresponding to the expansion of the universe) classical solution is obtained. This is done in a suitable weighted space.     

Vacuum fluctuations and topological Casimir effect in Friedmann–Robertson–Walker cosmologies with compact dimensions

We investigate the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation values of the field squared and the energy–momentum tensor for a massless scalar field with general curvature coupling parameter in spatially flat Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universes with an arbitrary number of toroidally compactified dimensions. The topological parts in the expectation values are explicitly extracted and in this way the renormalization is reduced to that for the model with trivial topology. In the limit when the comoving lengths of the compact dimensions are very short compared to the Hubble length, the topological parts coincide with those for a conformal coupling and they are related to the corresponding quantities in the flat spacetime by standard conformal transformation. This limit corresponds to the adiabatic approximation. In the opposite limit of large comoving lengths of the compact dimensions, in dependence of the curvature coupling parameter, two regimes are realized with monotonic or oscillatory behavior of the vacuum expectation values. In the monotonic regime and for non-conformally and non-minimally coupled fields the vacuum stresses are isotropic and the equation of state for the topological parts in the energy density and pressures is of barotropic type. For conformal and minimal couplings the leading terms in the corresponding asymptotic expansions vanish and the vacuum stresses, in general, are anisotropic, though the equation of state remains of barotropic type. In the oscillatory regime, the amplitude of the oscillations for the topological part in the expectation value of the field squared can be either decreasing or increasing with time, whereas for the energy–momentum tensor the oscillations are damping. The limits of validity of the adiabatic approximation are discussed.     

Spatially-Hyperbolic Friedmann–Robertson–Walker Universe with Potentially Broken Z2−Symmetry

For the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) Universe with negative curvature, sustained by a spontaneous Z₂? symmetry breaking scalar field, depending on time alone, we have derived the Einstein–Gordon system of equations. For physically relevant cases, the matter-curvature system have been numerically analyzed.     

Structural instability of Friedmann–Robertson–Walker cosmological models

Cosmological singularity and asymptotic behavior of scale factor of generalized cosmological models are analyzed in respect of their structural stability. It is shown, that cosmological singularity is structurally unstable for the majority of models with barotropic perfect fluid with strong energy condition. Inclusion of Λ-term extends the set of structurally stable cosmological models.     

Constant Mean Curvature Spacelike Surfaces in Three-Dimensional Generalized Robertson–Walker Spacetimes

Several uniqueness and non-existence results on complete constant mean curvature spacelike surfaces lying between two slices in certain three-dimensional generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes are given. They are obtained from a local integral estimation of the squared length of the gradient of a distinguished smooth function on a constant mean curvature spacelike surface, under a suitable curvature condition on the ambient spacetime. As a consequence, all the entire bounded solutions to certain family of constant mean curvature spacelike surface differential equations are found.     

Dirac Equation with Central Potential: Discrete Spectrum of the Hydrogen Atom in the Robertson–Walker Space–Time

The formulation of the Dirac equation withelectromagnetic field for a general space–time isspecialized to the Robertson–Walker metric. For aclass of physically meaningful electromagneticpotentials the angular part of the wave function separates asin the free-field case. The scheme is explicitly studiedfor a Coulomb potential. By using a realisticapproximation method one recovers the discrete energy levels of the hydrogen atom in Minkowski space.In case of static space–time, the result is exactfor zero curvature, while it is approximate for nonzerocurvature. The very good order of accuracy of the result is established by a comparison withsimilar qualitative and perturbative results.     

On the asymptotic character of electromagnetic waves in a Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe

Asymptotic properties of electromagnetic waves are studied within the context of Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) cosmology. Electromagnetic fields are considered as small perturbations on the background spacetime and Maxwells equations are solved for all three cases of flat, closed and open FRW universes. The asymptotic character of these solutions is investigated and their relevance to the problem of cosmological tails of electromagnetic waves is discussed.