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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Focusing of geodesic congruences in an accelerated expanding Universe
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Volume 2012, No. 12, Article 020, Year 2012
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Description
We study the accelerated expansion of the Universe through its consequences on a congruence of geodesics. We make use of the Raychaudhuri equation which describes the evolution of the expansion rate for a congruence of timelike or null geodesics. In particular, we focus on the space-time geometry contribution to this equation. By straightforward calculation from the metric of a Robertson-Walker cosmological model, it follows that in an accelerated expanding Universe the space-time contribution to the Raychaudhuri equation is positive for the fundamental congruence, favoring a non-focusing of the congruence of geodesics. However, the accelerated expansion of the present Universe does not imply a tendency of the fundamental congruence to diverge. It is shown that this is in fact the case for certain congruences of timelike geodesics without vorticity. Therefore, the focusing of geodesics remains feasible in an accelerated expanding Universe. Furthermore, a negative contribution to the Raychaudhuri equation from space-time geometry which is usually interpreted as the manifestation of the attractive character of gravity is restored in an accelerated expanding Robertson-Walker space-time at high speeds. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.
Authors & Co-Authors
Albareti, Franco D.
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Cembranos, Jose A.R.
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Cruz-Dombriz, Álvaro De La
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Statistics
Citations: 3
Authors: 3
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1088/1475-7516/2012/12/020
e-ISSN:
14757516