Inhomogeneous cosmology with numerical relativity

Abstract

We perform three-dimensional numerical relativity simulations of homogeneous and inhomogeneous expanding spacetimes, with a view toward quantifying nonlinear effects from cosmological inhomogeneities. We demonstrate fourth-order convergence with errors less than one part in 106 in evolving a flat, dust Friedmann-Lemaître-Roberston-Walker spacetime using the Einstein Toolkit within the Cactus framework. We also demonstrate agreement to within one part in 103 between the numerical relativity solution and the linear solution for density, velocity and metric perturbations in the Hubble flow over a factor of ∼350 change in scale factor (redshift). We simulate the growth of linear perturbations into the nonlinear regime, where effects such as gravitational slip and tensor perturbations appear. We therefore show that numerical relativity is a viable tool for investigating nonlinear effects in cosmology.