Second-order perturbations of a zero-pressure cosmological medium: Comoving versus synchronous gauge

Abstract

Except for the presence of gravitational wave source term, the relativistic perturbation equations of a zero-pressure irrotational fluid in a flat Friedmann world model coincide exactly with the Newtonian ones to the second order in perturbations. Such a relativistic-Newtonian correspondence is available in a special gauge condition (the comoving gauge) in which all the variables are equivalently gauge invariant. In this work we compare our results with the ones in the synchronous gauge which has been used often in the literature. Although the final equations look simpler in the synchronous gauge, the variables have remnant gauge modes. Except for the presence of the gauge mode for the perturbed-order variables, however, the equations in the synchronous gauge are gauge invariant and can be exactly identified as the Newtonian hydrodynamic equations in the Lagrangian frame. In this regard, the relativistic equations to the second order in the comoving gauge are the same as the Newtonian hydrodynamic equations in the Eulerian frame. We resolve several issues related to the two gauge conditions often to fully nonlinear orders in perturbations.