Nonlinear cosmological power spectrum in Einstein’s gravity

Abstract

Is Newton's gravity sufficient to handle the weakly nonlinear evolution stages of the large-scale cosmic structures? Here we resolve the issue by analytically deriving the density and velocity power spectra to the second order in the context of Einstein's gravity. The recently found pure general relativistic corrections appearing in the third-order perturbation contribute to power spectra to the second order. In this work the complete density and velocity power spectra to the second order are derived. The power transfers among different scales in the density power spectrum are estimated in the context of Einstein's gravity. The relativistic corrections in the density power spectrum are estimated to be smaller than the Newtonian one to the second order, but these could be larger than higher-order nonlinear Newtonian terms.