Non-linear power spectra in the synchronous gauge

Abstract

We study the non-linear corrections to the matter and velocity power spectra in the synchronous gauge (SG). For the leading correction to the non-linear power spectra, we consider the perturbations up to third order in a zero-pressure fluid in a flat cosmological background. Although the equations in the SG happen to coincide with those in the comoving gauge (CG) to linear order, they differ from second order. In particular, the second order hydrodynamic equations in the SG are apparently in the Lagrangian form, whereas those in the CG are in the Eulerian form. The non-linear power spectra naively presented in the original SG show rather pathological behavior quite different from the result of the Newtonian theory even on sub-horizon scales. We show that the pathology in the nonlinear power spectra is due to the absence of the convective terms in, thus the Lagrangian nature of, the SG. We show that there are many different ways of introducing the corrective convective terms in the SG equations. However, the convective terms (Eulerian modification) can be introduced only through gauge transformations to other gauges which should be the same as the CG to the second order. In our previous works we have shown that the density and velocity perturbation equations in the CG exactly coincide with the Newtonian equations to the second order, and the pure general relativistic correction terms starting to appear from the third order are substantially suppressed compared with the relativistic/Newtonian terms in the power spectra. As a result, we conclude that the SG per se is an inappropriate coordinate choice in handling the non-linear matter and velocity power spectra of the large-scale structure where observations meet with theories.