English

Could the Universe have an Exotic Topology?

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2019-03-04 v1

Abstract

A recent article uncovered a surprising dynamical mechanism at work within the (vacuum) Einstein `flow' that strongly suggests that many closed 3-manifolds that do not admit a locally homogeneous and isotropic metric \textit{at all} will nevertheless evolve, under Einsteinian evolution, in such a way as to be \textit{asymptotically} compatible with the observed, approximate, spatial homogeneity and isotropy of the universe \cite{Moncrief:2015}. Since this previous article, however, ignored the potential influence of \textit{dark-energy} and its correspondent accelerated expansion upon the conclusions drawn, we analyze herein the modifications to the foregoing argument necessitated by the inclusion of a \textit{positive} cosmological constant --- the simplest viable model for dark energy.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.1903.00323,
  title  = {Could the Universe have an Exotic Topology?},
  author = {Vincent Moncrief and Puskar Mondal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.00323},
  year   = {2019}
}

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43 pages