English

A simplified structure for the second order cosmological perturbation equations

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2015-06-04 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

Increasingly accurate observations of the cosmic microwave background and the large scale distribution of galaxies necessitate the study of nonlinear perturbations of Friedmann-Lemaitre cosmologies, whose equations are notoriously complicated. In this paper we present a new derivation of the governing equations for second order perturbations within the framework of the metric-based approach that is minimal, as regards amount of calculation and length of expressions, and flexible, as regards choice of gauge and stress-energy tensor. Because of their generality and the simplicity of their structure our equations provide a convenient starting point for determining the behaviour of nonlinear perturbations of FL cosmologies with any given stress-energy content, using either the Poisson gauge or the uniform curvature gauge.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1203.4790,
  title  = {A simplified structure for the second order cosmological perturbation equations},
  author = {Claes Uggla and John Wainwright},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.4790},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

30 pages, no figures. Changed title to the one in published version and some minor changes and additions

R2 v1 2026-06-21T20:37:56.094Z