Newtonian-like and anti-Newtonian universes

Roy Maartens, William M. Lesame, George F. R. Ellis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In an irrotational dust universe the locally free gravitational field is covariantly described by the gravito-electric and gravito-magnetic tensors Eab and Hab. In Newtonian theory Hab=0, and Eab is the tidal tensor. Newtonian-like dust universes in general relativity (i.e. with Hab=0 , often called `silent') have been shown to be inconsistent in general and unlikely to extend beyond the known spatially homogeneous or Szekeres examples. Furthermore, they are subject to a linearization instability. Here we show that `anti-Newtonian' universes, i.e. with purely gravito-magnetic field, so that Eab=0≠H, are also subject to severe integrability conditions. Thus these models are inconsistent in general. We show also that there are no anti-Newtonian spacetimes that are linearized perturbations of Robertson - Walker universes. The only Eab=0≠Hab solution known to us is not a dust solution, and we show that it is kinematically Gödel-like but dynamically unphysical.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1005-1017
JournalClassical and Quantum Gravity
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 1998

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