Surveys in Differential Geometry

Volume 20 (2015)

An alternative proposal for the anomalous acceleration

Pages: 267 – 276

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4310/SDG.2015.v20.n1.a11

Authors

Joel Smoller (Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.A.)

Blake Temple (Department of Mathematics, University of California at Davis)

Zeke Vogler (Department of Mathematics, University of California at Davis )

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of an alternative proposal for the anomalous acceleration of nearby galaxies as discovered in the 1998 supernova observations. The most common model introduces a cosmological constant into the Einstein equations to account for dark energy which is driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The authors give an alternative explanation within Einstein’s original equations without the cosmological term, and without dark energy. The new model explains the anomalous acceleration due to a local under-density created by a self-similar wave from the radiation epoch that triggers an instability in the standard model when the pressure drops to zero.

Keywords

cosmological solutions, accelerated expansion of the universe, Einstein equations, stability, cosmological constant, self-similar solutions

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification

35Q76, 83C05, 83F05

Published 7 July 2015