Timelike Geodesic Congruences Research Articles

Possible relationship between initial conditions for inflation and past geodesic incompleteness of the inflationary spacetime

According to the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin (BGV) theorem an expanding region of spacetime cannot be extended to the past beyond some boundary ℬ. Therefore, the inflationary universe must have had some kind of beginning. However, the BGW theorem says nothing about the boundary conditions on ℬ, or even about its location. Here we present a single-scalar field model of the Two-Measure Theory, where the non-Riemannian volume element Υ d 4 x is present in the action. As a result of the model dynamics, an upper bound φ 0 of admissible values of the scalar field φ appears, which sets the position of ℬ in the form of a spacelike hypersurface Υ(x) = 0 with a boundary condition: Υ → 0+ as φ → φ 0 -. A detailed study has established that if the initial kinetic energy density ρ kin (in) prevails over initial gradient energy density ρ grad (in) then there is an interval of initial values φ in (min) ≤ φ in < φ 0, where ρ kin (in) and ρ grad (in) cannot exceed the potential energy density and hence the initial conditions necessary for the onset of inflation are satisfied. It is shown that under almost all possible left-handed boundary conditions on ℬ, that is where Υ → 0-, the metric tensor in the Einstein frame has a jump discontinuity on ℬ, so the Christoffel connection coefficients are not defined on the spacelike hypersurface Υ = 0. Thus, if φ in (min) ≤ φ in < φ 0 and ρ kin (in) > ρ grad (in), then there was an inflationary stage in the history of our Universe and the congruence of timelike geodesics cannot be extended to the past beyond the hypersurface Υ = 0.

The Raychaudhuri equation in inhomogeneous FLRW space-time: A f(R)-gravity model

In general description of the Raychaudhuri equation it is found that this first order non-linear differential equation can be written as a second order linear differential equation in the form of Harmonic Oscillator with varying frequency. Further, the integrability of the Raychaudhuri equation has been studied and also the expansion scalar is obtained in an explicit form. Subsequently, f(R) gravity theory has been studied in the background of inhomogeneous FLRW spacetime with an aim to formulate the Raychaudhuri equation. A congruence of time-like geodesics has been investigated using the Raychaudhuri equation to examine whether the geodesics converge or not and some possible conditions are determined to avoid singularity. Finally, a brief quantum description has been presented.

Geodesic congruences in 5D warped Ellis–Bronnikov spacetimes

We study the timelike geodesic congruences in the generalised Ellis–Bronnikov spacetime (4D-GEB) and in recently proposed 5D model where a 4D-GEB is embedded in a warped geometry (5D-WGEB) and conduct a comparative study. Analytical expressions of ESR variables (for 4D geometries) are found which reveal the role of the wormhole parameter. In more general 4D and 5D scenarios geodesic equation, geodesic deviation equation and Raychaudhuri equations are solved numerically. The evolution of cross-sectional area of the congruences of timelike geodesics (orthogonal to the geodesic flow lines) projected on 2D-surfaces yield an interesting perspective and shows the effects of the wormhole parameter and growing/decaying warp factors. The presence of warping factor triggers rotation or accretion even in the absence of initial congruence rotation. The presence of rotation in the congruence is also found to be playing a crucial role which we discuss in detail.

Information content and minimum-length metric: A drop of light

In the vast amount of results linking gravity with thermodynamics, statistics, information, a path is described which tries to explore this connection from the point of view of (non)locality of the gravitational field. First the emphasis is put on that well-known thermodynamic results related to null hypersurfaces (i.e. to lightsheets and to generalized covariant entropy bound) can be interpreted as implying an irreducible intrinsic nonlocality of gravity. This nonlocality even if possibly concealed at ordinary scales(depending on which matter is source of the gravitational field, and which matter we use to probe the latter) unavoidably shows up at the smallest scales, read the Planck length $l_p$, whichever are the circumstances we are considering. Some consequences are then explored of this nonlocality when embodied in the fabric itself of spacetime by endowing the latter with a minimum length $L$, in particular the well-known and intriguing fact that this brings to get the field equations, and all of gravity with it, as a statistical-mechanical result. This is done here probing the neighborhood of a would-be (in ordinary spacetime) generic event through lightsheets (instead of spacelike or timelike geodesic congruences as in other accounts) from it. The tools for these derivations are nonlocal quantities, and among them the minimum-length Ricci scalar stands out both for providing micro degrees of freedom for gravity in the statistical account and for the fact that intriguingly the ordinary, or `classical', Ricci scalar can not be recovered from it in the $L\to 0$ limit. Emphasis is put on that classical gravity is generically obtained this way for $\hbar\ne 0$, but not in the $\hbar\to 0$ limit (the statistically derived field equations become singular in this limit), adding to previous results in this sense. (truncated Abstract; see the paper for full Abstract)

Geodesic congruences in exact plane wave spacetimes and the memory effect

Displacement and velocity memory effects in the exact, vacuum, plane gravitational wave line element have been studied recently by looking at the behaviour of pairs of geodesics or via geodesic deviation. Instead, one may investigate the evolution of geodesic congruences. In our work here, we obtain the evolution of the kinematic variables which characterise timelike geodesic congruences, using chosen pulse profiles (square and sech-squared) in the exact, plane gravitational wave line element. We also analyse the behaviour of geodesic congruences in possible physical scenarios describable using derivatives (first, second and third) of one of the chosen pulses. Beginning with a discussion on the generic behaviour of such congruences and consequences thereof, we find exact analytical expressions for shear and expansion with the two chosen pulse profiles. Qualitatively similar numerical results are noted when various derivatives of the sech-squared pulse are used. We conclude that for geodesic congruences, a growth (or decay) of shear causes focusing of an initially parallel congruence, after the departure of the pulse. A correlation between the `focusing time (or $u$ value, $u$ being the affine parameter)' and the amplitude of the pulse (or its derivatives) is found. Such features distinctly suggest a memory effect, named in recent literature as ${\cal B}$ memory.

Four-volume cutoff measure of the multiverse

Predictions in an eternally inflating multiverse are meaningless unless we specify the probability measure. The scale-factor cutoff is perhaps the simplest and most successful measure which avoid catastrophic problems such as the youngness paradox, runaway problem, and Boltzmann brain problem, but it is not well defined in contracting regions with a negative cosmological constant. In this paper, we propose a new measure with properties similar to the scale-factor cutoff which is well defined everywhere. The measure is defined by a cutoff in the 4-volume spanned by infinitesimal comoving neighborhoods in a congruence of timelike geodesics. The probability distributions for the cosmological constant and for the curvature parameter in this measure are similar to those for the scale factor cutoff and are in a good agreement with observations.

Geodesic flows in a charged black hole spacetime with quintessence

We investigate the evolution of timelike geodesic congruences, in the background of a charged black hole spacetime surrounded by quintessence. The Raychaudhuri equations for three kinematical quantities namely the expansion scalar, shear and rotation along the geodesic flows in such spacetime are obtained and solved numerically. We have also analysed both the weak and the strong energy conditions for the focussing of timelike geodesic congruences. The effect of the normalisation constant (alpha ) and the equation of state parameter (varepsilon ) on the evolution of the expansion scalar is discussed, for the congruences with and without an initial shear and rotation. It is observed that there always exists a critical value of the initial expansion below which we have focussing with smaller values of the normalisation constant and the equation of state parameter. As the corresponding values of both of these parameters are increased, no geodesic focussing is observed. The results obtained are then compared with those of the Reissner Nordström and Schwarzschild black hole spacetimes as well as their de Sitter black hole analogues accordingly.

Influence of geometry variations on the gravitational focusing of timelike geodesic congruences

We derive a set of equations describing the linear response of the convergence properties of a geodesic congruence to arbitrary geometry variations. It is a combination of equations describing the deviations from the standard Raychaudhuri-type equations due to the geodesic shifts and an equation describing the geodesic shifts due to the geometry variations. In this framework, the geometry variations, which can be chosen arbitrarily, serve as probes to investigate the gravitational contraction processes from various angles. We apply the obtained framework to the case of conformal geometry variations, characterized by an arbitrary function $f(x)$, and see that the formulas get simplified to a great extent. We investigate the response of the convergence properties of geodesics in the latest phase of gravitational contractions by restricting the class of conformal geometry variations to the one satisfying the strong energy condition. We then find out that in the final stage, $f$ and $ {\bf D}\cdot {\bf D} f$ control the overall contraction behavior and that the contraction rate gets larger when $f$ is negative and $|f|$ is so large as to overwhelm $|{\bf D} \cdot {\bf D} f|$. (Here ${\bf D} \cdot {\bf D}$ is the Laplacian operator on the spatial hypersurfaces orthogonal to the geodesic congruence in concern.) To get more concrete insights, we also apply the framework to the time-reversed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model as the simplest case of the singularity formations.

Raychaudhuri equation in an anisotropic universe with anisotropic sources

The fate of the universe with an anisotropic background sourced by anisotropic matter is investigated. We study the behavior of the Raychaudhuri equation and the question of whether a congruence of timelike geodesics focuses to a point in a universe with Bianchi I background, which is dictated by anisotropic sources like cosmic strings, domain walls, magnetic field and lorentz violating magnetic field each separately. Thus, the focusing theorem has been checked for both initially contracting and expanding universes with each of these anisotropic sources.

Geodesic motion in Schwarzschild spacetime surrounded by quintessence

We study the time-like geodesic congruences, in the space-time geometry of a Schwarzschild black hole surrounded by quintessence. The nature of effective potential along with the structure of the possible orbits for test particles in view of the different values of quintessence parameter are analysed in detail. %wherever possible it is done analytically otherwise numerically. An increase in quintessence parameter is seen to set the particles from farther distance into motion around black hole. The effect of quintessence parameter is investigated analytically wherever possible otherwise we perform the numerical analysis to probe the structure of possible orbits. It is observed that there exist a number of different possible orbits for a test particle in case of non-radial geodesics, such as circular (stable as well as unstable) bound orbits, radially plunge and fly-by orbits, whereas no bound orbits exist in case of radial geodesics. Using the geodesic deviation equations, we obtain the corresponding deviation vector and find that the quintessence assists the divergence of neighbouring geodesics in both the radial and transverse directions.

Jacobi Fields and Conjugate Points on Timelike Geodesics in Special Spacetimes

Several physical problems such as the `twin paradox' in curved spacetimes have purely geometrical nature and may be reduced to studying properties of bundles of timelike geodesics. The paper is a general introduction to systematic investigations of the geodesic structure of physically relevant spacetimes. The investigations are focussed on the search of locally and globally maximal timelike geodesics. The method of dealing with the local problem is in a sense algorithmic and is based on the geodesic deviation equation. Yet the search for globally maximal geodesics is non-algorithmic and cannot be treated analytically by solving a differential equation. Here one must apply a mixture of methods: spacetime symmetries (we have effectively employed the spherical symmetry), the use of the comoving coordinates adapted to the given congruence of timelike geodesics and the conjugate points on these geodesics. All these methods have been effectively applied in both the local and global problems in a number of simple and important spacetimes and their outcomes have already been published in three papers. Our approach shows that even in Schwarzschild spacetime (as well as in other static spherically symetric ones) one can find a new unexpected geometrical feature: instead of one there are three different infinite sets of conjugate points on each stable circular timelike geodesic curve. Due to problems with solving differential equations we are dealing solely with radial and circular geodesics.

Local gravitational physics of the Hubble expansion

We study physical consequences of the Hubble expansion of Friedmann-Lemaıtre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) manifold on measurement of space, time and light propagation in the local inertial frame. We use the results of this study to analyse the Solar System radar ranging and Doppler tracking experiments and time synchronization. FLRW manifold is covered by the coordinates (t, y i ), where t is the cosmic time coinciding with the proper time of the Hubble observers and identified with the barycentric coordinate time (TCB) used in ephemeris astronomy. We introduce the local inertial coordinates x α = (x 0, x i ) in the vicinity of a world line of a Hubble observer with the help of a special conformal transformation that respects the local equivalence between the tangent and FLRW manifold. The local inertial metric is Minkowski flat and is materialized by the congruence of time-like geodesics of static observers being at rest with respect to the local spatial coordinates x i . The static observers are equipped with the ideal clocks measuring their own proper time which is synchronized with the cosmic time t measured by the Hubble observer. We consider the geodesic motion of test particles and notice that the local coordinate time x 0 = x 0(t) taken as a parameter along the world line of the particle, is a function of Hubble’s observer time t. This function changes smoothly from x 0 = t for a particle at rest (observer’s clock), to x 0 = t + (1/2)Ht 2 for photons, where H is the Hubble constant. Thus, the motion of a test particle is non-uniform when its world line is parametrized by the cosmic time t. NASA JPL Orbit Determination Program operates under the assumption that the spacetime is asymptotically flat which presumes that the motion of light (after the Shapiro delay is excluded) is uniform with respect to the time t but it does not comply with the non-uniform motion of light on cosmological manifold. For this reason, the motion of light in the Solar System analysed with the Orbit Determination Program appears as having a systematic blue shift of frequency, of radio waves circulating in the Earth-spacecraft radio link. The magnitude of the anomalous blue shift of frequency is proportional to the Hubble constant H that may open an access to the measurement of this fundamental cosmological parameter in the Solar System radiowave experiments.

Evolution of geodesic congruences in a gravitationally collapsing scalar field background

The evolution of timelike geodesic congruences in a spherically symmetric, nonstatic, inhomogeneous spacetime representing gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field is studied. We delineate how initial values of the expansion, rotation, and shear of a congruence, as well as the spacetime curvature, influence the global behavior and focusing properties of a family of trajectories. Under specific conditions, the expansion scalar is shown to exhibit a finite jump (from negative to positive value) before focusing eventually occurs. This nonmonotonic behavior of the expansion, observed in our numerical work, is successfully explained through an analysis of the equation for the expansion. Finally, we bring out the role of the metric parameters (related to nonstaticity and spatial inhomogeneity) in shaping the overall behavior of geodesic congruences.

Influence of quantum matter fluctuations on geodesic deviation

We study the passive influence of quantum matter fluctuations on the expansion parameter of a congruence of timelike geodesics in a semiclassical regime. In particular, we show that the perturbations of this parameter can be considered to be elements of the algebra of observables of matter fields at all perturbative orders. Hence, once a quantum state for matter is chosen, it is possible to explicitly evaluate the behavior of geometric fluctuations. After introducing the formalism necessary to treat similar problems, in the last part of the paper, we estimate the approximated probability of having a geodesic collapse in a flat spacetime due to those fluctuations.

Focusing of geodesic congruences in an accelerated expanding Universe

We study the accelerated expansion of the Universe through its consequences on a congruence of geodesics. We make use of the Raychaudhuri equation which describes the evolution of the expansion rate for a congruence of timelike or null geodesics. In particular, we focus on the space-time geometry contribution to this equation. By straightforward calculation from the metric of a Robertson-Walker cosmological model, it follows that in an accelerated expanding Universe the space-time contribution to the Raychaudhuri equation is positive for the fundamental congruence, favoring a non-focusing of the congruence of geodesics. However, the accelerated expansion of the present Universe does not imply a tendency of the fundamental congruence to diverge. It is shown that this is in fact the case for certain congruences of timelike geodesics without vorticity. Therefore, the focusing of geodesics remains feasible in an accelerated expanding Universe. Furthermore, a negative contribution to the Raychaudhuri equation from space-time geometry which is usually interpreted as the manifestation of the attractive character of gravity is restored in an accelerated expanding Robertson-Walker space-time at high speeds.

New scale factor measure

The computation of probabilities in an eternally inflating universe requires a regulator or ``measure.'' The scale factor time measure truncates the Universe when a congruence of timelike geodesics has expanded by a fixed volume factor. This definition breaks down if the generating congruence is contracting---a serious limitation that excludes from consideration gravitationally bound regions such as our own. Here we propose a closely related regulator which is well defined in the entire spacetime. The new scale factor cutoff restricts to events with a scale factor below a given value. Since the scale factor vanishes at caustics and crunches, this cutoff always includes an infinite number of disconnected future regions. We show that this does not lead to divergences. The resulting measure combines desirable features of the old scale factor cutoff and of the light-cone time cutoff, while eliminating some of the disadvantages of each.

Geodesic flows in rotating black hole backgrounds

We study the kinematics of timelike geodesic congruences, in the spacetime geometry of rotating black holes in three (the BTZ) and four (the Kerr) dimensions. The evolution (Raychaudhuri) equations for the expansion, shear and rotation along geodesic flows in such spacetimes are obtained. For the BTZ case, the equations are solved analytically. The effect of the negative cosmological constant on the evolution of the expansion ($\theta$), for congruences with and without an initial rotation ($\omega_0$) is noted. Subsequently, the evolution equations, in the case of a Kerr black hole in four dimensions are written and solved numerically, for some specific geodesics flows. It turns out that, for the Kerr black hole, there exists a critical value of the initial expansion below (above) which we have focusing (defocusing). We delineate the dependencies of the expansion, on the black hole angular momentum parameter, $a$, as well as on $\omega_0$. Further, the role of $a$ and $\omega_0$ on the time (affine parameter) of approach to a singularity (defocusing/focusing) is studied. While the role of $\omega_0$ on this time of approach is as expected, the effect of $a$ leads to an interesting new result.

Geodesic congruences in warped spacetimes

In this article, we explore the kinematics of timelike geodesic congruences in warped five dimensional bulk spacetimes, with and without thick or thin branes. Beginning with geodesic flows in the Randall--Sundrum AdS (Anti de Sitter) geometry without and with branes we find analytical expressions for the expansion scalar and comment on the effects of including thin branes on its evolution. Later, we move on to congruences in more general warped bulk geometries with a cosmological thick brane and a time-dependent extra dimensional scale. Using analytical expressions for the velocity field, we interpret the expansion, shear and rotation (ESR) along the flows, as functions of the extra dimensional coordinate. The evolution of a cross-sectional area orthogonal to the congruence, as seen from a local observer's point of view, is also shown graphically. Finally, the Raychaudhuri and geodesic equations in backgrounds with a thick brane are solved numerically in order to figure out the role of initial conditions (prescribed on the ESR) and spacetime curvature on the evolution of the ESR.

Kinematics of geodesic flows in stringy black hole backgrounds

We study the kinematics of timelike geodesic congruences in two and four dimensions in spacetime geometries representing stringy black holes. The Raychaudhuri equations for the kinematical quantities (namely, expansion, shear, and rotation) characterizing such geodesic flows are written down and subsequently solved analytically (in two dimensions) and numerically (in four dimensions) for specific geodesic flows. We compare between geodesic flows in dual (electric and magnetic) stringy black hole backgrounds in four dimensions, by showing the differences that arise in the corresponding evolutions of the kinematic variables. The crucial role of initial conditions and the spacetime curvature on the evolution of the kinematical variables is illustrated. Some novel general conclusions on caustic formation and geodesic focusing are obtained from the analytical and numerical findings. We also propose a new quantifier in terms of the time (affine parameter) of approach to a singularity, which may be used to distinguish between flows in different geometries. In summary, our quantitative findings bring out hitherto unknown features of the kinematics of geodesic flows, which, otherwise, would have remained overlooked, if we confined ourselves to only a qualitative analysis.

Possible constraints on the duration of inflationary expansion from quantum stress tensor fluctuations

We discuss the effect of quantum stress tensor fluctuations in de Sitter spacetime upon the expansion of a congruence of timelike geodesics. We treat a model in which the expansion fluctuations begin on a given hypersurface in de Sitter spacetime, and find that this effect tends to grow, in contrast to the situation in flat spacetime. This growth potentially leads to observable consequences in inflationary cosmology in the form of density perturbations which depend upon the duration of the inflationary period. In the context of our model, the effect may be used to place upper bounds on this duration.