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Einstein's Universe: Cosmological structure formation in numerical relativity

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Macpherson, Hayley J 
Price, Daniel J 
Lasky, Paul D 

Abstract

We perform large-scale cosmological simulations that solve Einstein's equations directly via numerical relativity. Starting with initial conditions sampled from the cosmic microwave background, we track the emergence of a cosmic web without the need for a background cosmology. We measure the backreaction of large-scale structure on the evolution of averaged quantities in a matter-dominated universe. Although our results are preliminary, we find the global backreaction energy density is of order 10−8 compared to the energy density of matter in our simulations, and is thus unlikely to explain accelerating expansion under our assumptions. Sampling scales above the homogeneity scale of the Universe (100−180h−1Mpc), in our chosen gauge, we find 2−3% variations in local spatial curvature.

Description

Keywords

astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.CO, gr-qc

Journal Title

PHYSICAL REVIEW D

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2470-0010
2470-0029

Volume Title

99

Publisher

American Physical Society (APS)

Rights

All rights reserved