Causal cosmological perturbations and implications for the Sachs-Wolfe effect

Journal Article · Sun Apr 15 04:00:00 EST 1984 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.29.1563· OSTI ID:7001735

Traschen, J

Gravitational perturbations in a Robertson-Walker (RW) universe induce fluctuations deltaT/T in the microwave background due to the Sachs-Wolfe effect. We find that in RW spacetimes there exist general-relativistic generalizations of energy-momentum conservation for perturbations; perturbations must satisfy certain integral constraints. When the constraint conditions are applied to causal perturbations, there is a decrease in the predicted magnitude of the Sachs-Wolfe effect, of the order (1+z)/sup -1/. Here z is the red-shift when the universe becomes matter dominated. Exact solutions in position space of the perturbation variables are found by construction of a Green's function. In this form the solutions are manifestly causal.

• Research Organization: Department of Applied Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; and Department of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
• OSTI ID: 7001735
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. D; (United States) Vol. 29:8; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640106* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Cosmology
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
CAUSALITY
CONSERVATION LAWS
COSMOLOGY
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FIELD THEORIES
FUNCTIONS
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS
GREEN FUNCTION
INTERACTIONS
LIGHT CONE
MICROWAVE RADIATION
PERTURBATION THEORY
RADIATIONS
SPACE-TIME
UNIVERSE