Linear perturbations of the Linet–Tian metrics with a positive cosmological constant

Abstract

The Linet–Tian metrics are solutions of the Einstein equations with a cosmological constant, Λ, that can be positive or negative. The linear instability of these metrics in the case Λ < 0, has already been established (Gleiser 2017 Class. Quantum Grav. 34 065010). In the case Λ > 0, it was found in a recent analysis that the perturbation equations admit unstable modes (Gleiser 2018 arXiv:1810.07296v2[gr-qc]). The analysis was based on the construction of a gauge invariant function of the metric perturbation coefficients, called here W(y). This function satisfied a linear second order equation that could be used to set up a boundary value problem determining the allowed, real or purely imaginary frequencies for the perturbations. Nevertheless, the relation of these solutions to the full spectrum of perturbations, and, therefore, to the evolution of arbitrary perturbations, remained open. In this paper we consider again the perturbations of the Linet–Tian metric with Λ > 0, and show, using a form of the Darboux transformation, that one can associate with the perturbation equations a self adjoint problem that provides a solution to the completeness and spectrum of the perturbations. This is also used to construct the explicit relation between the solutions of the gauge invariant equation for W(y), and the evolution of arbitrary initial data, thus solving the problem that remained open in the previous study. Numerical methods are then used to confirm the existence of unstable modes as a part of the complete spectrum of the perturbations, thus establishing the linear gravitational instability of the Linet–Tian metrics with Λ > 0.