The geodesic-light-cone (GLC) coordinates are a useful tool to analyse light propagation and observations in cosmological models. In this article, we propose a detailed, pedagogical, and rigorous introduction to this coordinate system, explore its gauge degrees of freedom, and emphasize its interest when geometric optics is at stake. We then apply the GLC formalism to the homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi I cosmology. More than a simple illustration, this application (i) allows us to show that the Weinberg conjecture according to which gravitational lensing does not affect the proper area of constant-redshift surfaces is significantly violated in a globally anisotropic universe; and (ii) offers a glimpse into new ways to constrain cosmic isotropy from the Hubble diagram.
Generic resolution of singularities and geodesic completeness in the loop quantization of Bianchi-II spacetimes with arbitrary minimally coupled matter is investigated. Using the effective Hamiltonian approach, we examine two available quantizations: one based on the connection operator and second by treating extrinsic curvature as connection via gauge fixing. It turns out that for the connection based quantization, either the inverse triad modifications or imposition of weak energy condition is necessary to obtain a resolution of all strong singularities and geodesic completeness. In contrast…
It is shown that most, but not all, of the four dimensional metrics in the Multi-Centre family with integrable geodesic flow may be recognized as belonging to spatially homogeneous Bianchi type A metrics. We show that any diagonal bi-axial Bianchi II metric has an integrable geodesic flow, and that the simplest hyperkähler metric in this family displays a finite dimensional W-algebra for its observables. Our analysis puts also to light non-diagonal Bianchi VI$_0$ and VII$_0$ metrics which seem to be new. We conclude by showing that the elliptic coordinates advocated in the literature do not se…
Pick an arbitrary timelike geodesic in an arbitrary spacetime. We demonstrate that there is a particular limiting process, an "ultra-local limit", in which the immediate neighborhood of the timelike geodesic can be "blown up" to yield a general (typically non-diagonal) Bianchi type I spacetime. This process shares some (but definitely not all) of the features of the Penrose limit, whereby the immediate neighborhood of an arbitrary null geodesic is "blown up" to yield a pp-wave as a limit.
To understand the observational properties of cosmological models, in particular, the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation, it is necessary to study their null geodesics. Dynamical systems theory, in conjunction with the orthonormal frame approach, has proved to be an invaluable tool for analyzing spatially homogeneous cosmologies. It is thus natural to use such techniques to study the geodesics of these models. We therefore augment the Einstein field equations with the geodesic equations, all written in dimensionless form, obtaining an extended system of first-order ordina…
In this paper we present an analysis to determine the existence of singularities in spatially homogeneous anisotropic universes filled with nonlinear electromagnetic radiation. These spaces are conformal to Bianchi spaces admitting a three parameter group of motions G$_3$. For these models we study geodesic completeness. It is shown that with nonlinear electromagnetic field some of the Bianchi spaces are geodesically complete, like G$_3$IX and G$_3$VIII; however, completeness depends on the curvature of the space. When certain topology is assumed, Bianchi G$_3$IX presents geodesics that are im…
We explore the dynamical stability of the minisuperspace Hamiltonian of the Bianchi IX cosmological models, giving a gauge-invariant and unapproximated description of the full continuous dynamics, achieved through a geometrical description of the equations of motion in the framework of the theory of Finsler Spaces. The numerical integrations of the geodesics and geodesic deviation equations show clearly the absence of any "traditional" signature of Chaos, while suggesting a chaotic scattering dynamics scenario.
We investigate the effects of the underlying quantum geometry in loop quantum cosmology on spacetime curvature invariants and the extendibility of geodesics in the Bianchi-I model for matter with a vanishing anisotropic stress. Using the effective Hamiltonian approach, we find that even though quantum geometric effects bound the energy density and expansion and shear scalars, divergences of curvature invariants are potentially possible under special conditions. However, as in the isotropic models in LQC, these do not necessarily imply a physical singularity. Analysis of geodesics and strength …
Most of cosmological observables are light-propagated. I will present coordinates adapted to the propagation of null-like signals as observed by a geodesic observer. These "geodesic light-cone (GLC) coordinates" are general, adapted to calculations in inhomogeneous geometries, and their properties make them useful for a large spectrum of applications, from the estimation of the distance-redshift relation, the average on our past light cone, the effect of the large-scale structure on the Hubble diagram, to weak lensing calculations.
For the gravitational wave model based on the type III Shapovalov wave space-time, test particle trajectories and the exact solution of geodesic deviation equations for the Bianchi type VII universe are obtained. Based on the found 4-vector of deviation, tidal accelerations in a gravitational wave are calculated. For the obtained solution in a privileged coordinate system, an explicit form of transformations into a synchronous reference system is found, which allows time synchronization at any points of space-time with separation of time and spatial coordinates. The synchronous reference syste…
The remarkable properties of the geodesic light-cone (GLC) coordinates allow analytic expressions for the light-cone observables, providing a new non-perturbative way for calculating the effects of inhomogeneities in our Universe. However, the gauge-invariance of these expressions in the GLC formalism has not been shown explicitly. Here we provide this missing part of the GLC formalism by proving the gauge-invariance of the GLC expressions for the light-cone observables, such as the observed redshift, the luminosity distance, and the physical area and volume of the observed sources. Our study …
The maximal globally hyperbolic development of non-Taub-NUT Bianchi IX vacuum initial data and of non-NUT Bianchi VIII vacuum initial data is C2 inextendible. Furthermore, a curvature invariant is unbounded in the incomplete directions of inextendible causal geodesics.
A higher dimensional frame formalism is developed in order to study implications of the Bianchi identities for the Weyl tensor in vacuum spacetimes of the algebraic types III and N in arbitrary dimension $n$. It follows that the principal null congruence is geodesic and expands isotropically in two dimensions and does not expand in $n-4$ spacelike dimensions or does not expand at all. It is shown that the existence of such principal geodesic null congruence in vacuum (together with an additional condition on twist) implies an algebraically special spacetime. We also use the Myers-Perry metric …
Global existence to the coupled Einstein-Maxwell system which rules the dynamics of a kind of charged matter with a pseudo-tensor of pressure is proved, in Bianchi I-VIII spacetimes. We study the geodesics completeness, the asymptotic behavior, the positivity conditions, and we prove that the problem is well-posed in the sense of Hadamard.
We present in this paper a new application of the geodesic light-cone (GLC) gauge for weak lensing calculations. Using interesting properties of this gauge, we derive an exact expression of the amplification matrix - involving convergence, magnification and shear - and of the deformation matrix - involving the optical scalars. These expressions are simple and non-perturbative as long as no caustics are created on the past light-cone and are, by construction, free from the thin lens approximation. We apply these general expressions on the example of an Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model with an …
We study the generic resolution of strong singularities in loop quantized effective Bianchi-IX spacetime in two different quantizations - the connection operator based `A' quantization and the extrinsic curvature based `K' quantization. We show that in the effective spacetime description with arbitrary matter content, it is necessary to include inverse triad corrections to resolve all the strong singularities in the `A' quantization. Whereas in the `K' quantization these results can be obtained without including inverse triad corrections. Under these conditions, the energy density, expansion a…
We show that the angular directions locally measured by a static geodesic observer in a generic cosmological background and expressed in the system of Fermi Normal Coordinates always coincide with those expressed in the Geodesic-Light-Cone (GLC) gauge, up to a local transformation which exploits the residual gauge freedom of the GLC coordinates. This is not the case for other gauges - like, for instance, the synchronous and longitudinal gauge - commonly used in the context of observational cosmology. We also make an explicit proposal for the GLC gauge-fixing condition that ensures a full ident…
We consider the asymptotic behaviour of spatially homogeneous spacetimes of Bianchi type IX close to the singularity (we also consider some of the other Bianchi types, e. g. Bianchi VIII in the stiff fluid case). The matter content is assumed to be an orthogonal perfect fluid with linear equation of state and zero cosmological constant. In terms of the variables of Wainwright and Hsu, we have the following results. In the stiff fluid case, the solution converges to a point for all the Bianchi class A types. For the other matter models we consider, the Bianchi IX solutions generically converge …
It is well known that the so called Bianchi IX spacetimes with SO(3)-symmetry in a neighbourhood of the Big Bang exhibit a chaotic behaviour of typical trajectories in the backward movement of time. This behaviour (Mixmaster Model of the Universe) can be encoded by the shift of two-sided continued fractions. Exactly the same shift encodes the sequences of intersections of hyperbolic geodesics with purely imaginary axis in the upper complex half-plane, that is geodesic flow on an appropriate modular surface. A physical interpretation of this coincidence was suggested in arXiv:1402.2158: namely,…
Global existence to the coupled Einstein-Maxwell-Massive Scalar Field system which rules the dynamics of a kind of charged pure matter in the presence of a massive scalar field is proved, in Bianchi I-VIII spacetimes; asymptotic behaviour, geodesic completeness, energy conditions are investigated in the case of a cosmological constant bounded from below by a strictly negative constant depending only on the massive scalar field.
We discuss the interpretation of the angles in the Geodesic Light-Cone (GLC) coordinates. In particular, we clarify the way in which these angles can be identified with the observed ones. We show that, although this identification is always possible in principle, one cannot implement it in the usual gauge-fixing way, i.e. through a set of conditions on the GLC metric. Rather, one needs to invoke a tetrad at the observer and a Cartesian-like coordinate system in order to obtain the desired map globally on the observed sky.
Continuing work initiated in an earlier publication [Phys. Rev. D 69, 084007 (2004)], we construct a system of light-cone coordinates based at a geodesic world line of an arbitrary curved spacetime. The construction involves (i) an advanced-time or a retarded-time coordinate that labels past or future light cones centered on the world line, (ii) a radial coordinate that is an affine parameter on the null generators of these light cones, and (iii) angular coordinates that are constant on each generator. The spacetime metric is calculated in the light-cone coordinates, and it is expressed as an …
This article proposes a comprehensive analysis of light propagation in an anisotropic and spatially homogeneous Bianchi I universe. After recalling that null geodesics are easily determined in such a spacetime, we derive the expressions of the redshift and direction drifts of light sources; by solving analytically the Sachs equation, we then obtain an explicit expression of the Jacobi matrix describing the propagation of narrow light beams. As a byproduct, we recover the old formula by Saunders for the angular diameter distance in a Bianchi I spacetime, but our derivation goes further since it…
We consider the precession of a Dirac particle spin in some anisotropic Bianchi universes. This effect is present already in the Bianchi-I universe. We discuss in some detail the geodesics and the spin precession for both the Kasner and the Heckmann-Schucking solutions. In the Bianchi-IX universe the spin precession acquires the chaotic character due to the stochasticity of the oscillatory approach to the cosmological singularity. The related helicity flip of fermions in the very early Universe may produce the sterile particles contributing to dark matter.
The remarkable properties of the recently proposed geodesic light-cone (GLC) gauge allow to explicitly solve the geodetic-deviation equation, and thus to derive an exact expression for the Jacobi map J^A_B(s,o) connecting a generic source s to a geodesic observer o in a generic space time. In this gauge J^A_B factorizes into the product of a local quantity at s times one at o, implying similarly factorized expressions for the area and luminosity distance. In any other coordinate system J^A_B is simply given by expressing the GLC quantities in terms of the corresponding ones in the new coordina…
Exact electromagnetic wave solutions to Maxwell equations on anisotropic Bianchi I cosmological spacetime backgrounds are studied. The waves evolving on Bianchi I spacetimes exhibit birefringence (associated to linear polarization) and dispersion. The particular case of a vacuum--dominated anisotropic Universe, which reproduces a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Universe (for late times) while for earlier times it matches a Kasner Universe, is studied. The electromagnetic waves do not, in general, follow null geodesics. This produces a modification of the cosmological redshift, which is now dependen…
Several space missions such as GRACE, GRAIL, ACES and others rely on intersatellite communications (ISC) between two satellites at a large distance one from another. The main goal of the theory is to formulate all the navigation observables within the General Relativity Theory. The same approach should be applied also to the intersatellite GPS-communications (in perspective also between the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo satellite constellations). In this paper a theoretical approach has been developed for ISC between two satellites moving on (one-plane) elliptical orbits, based on the introduction …
We construct the light escape cones of isotropic spot sources of radiation residing in special classes of reference frames in the Kerr-de Sitter (KdS) black hole spacetimes, namely, in the fundamental class of 'non-geodesic' locally non-rotating reference frames (LNRFs), and two classes of 'geodesic' frames, the radial geodesic frames (RGFs), both falling and escaping, and the frames related to the circular geodesic orbits (CGFs). We compare the cones constructed in a given position for the LNRFs, RGFs, and CGFs. We have shown that the photons locally counter-rotating relative to LNRFs with po…
We study past-directed extendibility of Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) and Bianchi type I spacetimes with a scale factor vanishing in the past. We give criteria for determining whether a boundary for past-directed incomplete geodesics is a parallelly propagated curvature singularity, which cannot necessarily be read off from scalar curvature invariants. It is clarified that, for incomplete FLRW spacetime to avoid the singularity, the spacetime necessarily reduces to the Milne universe or flat de Sitter universe toward the boundary. For incomplete Bianchi type I spacetime to be free…
Inspired by the fully non-linear Geodesic Light-Cone (GLC) gauge, we consider its analogous set of coordinates which describes the unperturbed Universe. Given this starting point, we then build a cosmological perturbation theory on top of it, study the gauge transformation properties related to this new set of perturbations and show the connection with standard cosmological perturbation theory. In particular, we obtain which gauge in standard perturbation theory corresponds to the GLC gauge, and put in evidence how this is a useful alternative to the standard Synchronous Gauge. Moreover, we ex…
Since particles obey wave equations, in general one is not free to postulate that particles move on the geodesics associated with test particles. Rather, for this to be the case one has to be able to derive such behavior starting from the equations of motion that the particles obey, and to do so one can employ the eikonal approximation. To see what kind of trajectories might occur we explore the domain of support of the propagators associated with the wave equations. For a minimally coupled massless scalar field the domain of support in curved space is shown to not be restricted to the light c…
We study the singularity of the congruences for both timelike and null geodesic curves using the expansion of the early anisotropic Bianchi type I Universe. In this paper, we concentrate on the influence of the shear of the timelike and null geodesic congruences in the early Universe. Under some natural conditions, we derive the Raychaudhuri type equation for the expansion and the shear-related equations. Recently, scientists working on the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) have shown many possibilities to observing the anisotropy of the primordial gravitational wave b…
In the Bondi-Sachs formulation of General Relativity space-time is foliated via a family of null cones. If these null cones are defined such that their vertices are traced by a regular world-line then the metric tensor has to obey regularity conditions at the vertices. We explore these regularity conditions when the world line is a time-like geodesic. In particular, we solve the Einstein equations for the Bondi-Sachs metric near the vertices for axially symmetric vacuum space- times. The metric is calculated up to third order corrections with respect to a flat metric along the time-like geodes…
We point out an unusual relationship among a variety of null geodesic congruences; (a) the generators of ordinary light-cones and (b) certain (related) shear-free but twisting congruences in Minkowski Space-time as well as (c) asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences that exist in the neighborhood of Penrose's Scri in Einstein or Einstein-Maxwell asymptotically flat-space-times. We refer to these geodesic congruences respectively as: Lignt-Cones (LCs), as Almost-Complex- Light-Cones, (ACLCs), [though they are real they resemble complex light-cones in complex Minkowski space] and fin…
A characteristic feature of loop quantization of the isotropic and Bianchi-I spacetimes is the existence of universal bounds on the energy density and the expansion and shear scalars, independent of the matter content. We investigate the properties of these physical quantities in Bianchi-II and Bianchi-IX spacetimes, which have been recently loop quantized using the connection operator approach. Using the effective Hamiltonian approach, we show that for Bianchi-II spacetime, energy density and the expansion and shear scalars turn out to be bounded, albeit not by universal values. In Bianchi-IX…
We study geometric structures associated with shear-free null geodesic congruences in Minkowski space-time and asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences in asymptotically flat space-times. We show how in both the flat and asymptotically flat settings, complexified future null infinity acts as a "holographic screen," interpolating between two dual descriptions of the null geodesic congruence. One description constructs a complex null geodesic congruence in a complex space-time whose source is a complex world-line; a virtual source as viewed from the holographic screen. This complex nu…
The locally rotationally symmetric tilted perfect fluid Bianchi type V cosmological model provides examples of future geodesically complete spacetimes that admit a `kinematic singularity' at which the fluid congruence is inextendible but all frame components of the Weyl and Ricci tensors remain bounded. We show that for any positive integer n there are examples of Bianchi type V spacetimes admitting a kinematic singularity such that the covariant derivatives of the Weyl and Ricci tensors up to the n-th order also stay bounded. We briefly discuss singularities in classical spacetimes.
In this paper we use Noether symmetries of the geodesic Lagrangian in Bianchi V spacetimes to study various cosmological solutions of Einstein's field equations. Our first result is the identification of the subalgebras of Noether symmetries of the equations of motions in such spacetimes with dimension 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 or 10 of the maximal algebra of Lie point symmetries of dimension 13. Secondly we give physical interpretation of new cosmological solutions which satisfy positive energy condition and yield critical bounds on the expansion coefficient $α$, in which the underlying non-flat spacetim…
The classical geodesics of timelike particles in Schwarzschild spacetime is analyzed according to the particle starting radius $r$, velocity $v$ and angle $α$ against the radial outward direction in the reference system of an local static observer. The region of escape, bound and capture orbits in the parameter space of $(r,~v,~α)$ are solved using the three cases of the effective potential. It is found that generally for radius smaller than $4M$ or velocity larger than $c/\sqrt{2}$ there will be no bound orbits. While for fixed radius larger than $4M$ (or velocity smaller than $c/\sqrt{2}$), …
We present a general gauge invariant formalism for defining cosmological averages that are relevant for observations based on light-like signals. Such averages involve either null hypersurfaces corresponding to a family of past light-cones or compact surfaces given by their intersection with timelike hypersurfaces. Generalized Buchert-Ehlers commutation rules for derivatives of these light-cone averages are given. After introducing some adapted "geodesic light-cone" coordinates, we give explicit expressions for averaging the redshift to luminosity-distance relation and the so-called "redshift …
Resolution of singularities in the Kantowski-Sachs model due to non-perturbative quantum gravity effects is investigated. Using the effective spacetime description for the improved dynamics version of loop quantum Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes, we show that even though expansion and shear scalars are universally bounded, there can exist events where curvature invariants can diverge. However, such events can occur only for very exotic equations of state when pressure or derivatives of energy density with respect to triads become infinite at a finite energy density. In all other cases curvature inv…
In this paper we consider light-cone fluctuations arising as a consequence of the nontrivial topology of the locally flat cosmic string spacetime. By setting the light-cone along the z-direction we are able to develop a full analysis to calculate the renormalized graviton two-point function, as well as the mean square fluctuation in the geodesic interval function and the time delay (or advance) in the propagation of a light-pulse. We found that all these expressions depend upon the parameter characterizing the conical topology of the cosmic string spacetime and vanish in the absence of it. We …
We show how to reformulate Variable Speed of Light Theories (VSLT) in a covariant fashion as Variable Light-Cone Theories (VLCT) by introducing two vierbein bundles each associated with a distinct metric. The basic gravitational action relates to one bundle while matter propagates relative to the other in a conventional way. The variability of the speed of light is represented by the variability of the matter light-cone relative to the gravitational light-cone. The two bundles are related locally by an element M, of SL(4,R). The dynamics of the field M is that of a SL(4,R)-sigma model gauged w…
We consider non-rotating geodesic perfect fluid spacetimes which are purely radiative in the sense that the gravitational field satisfies the covariant transverse conditions div H = div E = 0. We show that when the shear tensor S is degenerate, H, E and S necessarily commute and hence the resulting spacetimes are hypersurface homogeneous of Bianchi class A (modulo some purely electric exceptions).
In the literature different concepts of compatibility between a projective structure and a conformal structure on a differentiable manifold are used. In particular compatibility in the sense of Weyl geometry is slightly more general than compatibility in the Riemannian sense. An often cited paper [Ehlers-Pirani-Schild:1972] introduces still another criterion which is natural from the physical point of view: every light like geodesics of of the conformal structure is a geodesics of the projective structure. Their claim that this type of compatibility is sufficient for introducing a Weylian metr…
The characteristic formalism of numerical relativity is based on a system of coordinates aligned with outgoing null cones. While these coordinates were designed for studying gravitational waves, they can also be easily adapted to model cosmological past null cones (PNCs). Similar to observational coordinates in the observational approach to cosmology, this then provides a model that only makes use of information causally connected to an observer. However, the diameter distance, which is used as a radial coordinate, limits the model's cosmological application to the region prior to the PNC refo…
Extremely compact objects containing a region of trapped null geodesics could be of astrophysical relevance due to trapping of neutrinos with consequent impact on cooling processes or trapping of gravitational waves. These objects have previously been studied under the assumption of spherical symmetry. In the present paper, we consider a simple generalization by studying trapping of null geodesics in the framework of the Hartle-Thorne slow-rotation approximation taken to first order in the angular velocity, and considering a uniform-density object with uniform emissivity for the null geodesics…
We present the details of an algorithm for the global evolution of asymptotically flat, axisymmetric spacetimes, based upon a characteristic initial value formulation using null cones as evolution hypersurfaces. We identify a new static solution of the vacuum field equations which provides an important test bed for characteristic evolution codes. We also show how linearized solutions of the Bondi equations can be generated by solutions of the scalar wave equation, thus providing a complete set of test beds in the weak field regime. These tools are used to establish that the algorithm is second…
In this work we simulate null geodesics for the Bonnor massive dipole metric by implementing a symbolic-numerical algorithm in Sage and Python. This program is also capable of visualizing in 3D, in principle, the geodesics for any given metric. Geodesics are launched from a common point, collectively forming a cone of light beams, simulating a solid-angle section of a point source in front of a massive object with a magnetic field. Parallel light beams also were considered, and their bending due to the curvature of the space-time was simulated.
We examine the five-region holographic entropy cone inequalities for the special case of the AdS$_3$-Vaidya metric for a variety of boundary configurations. This is done by numerically solving the geodesic equation in the bulk for various boundary configurations. In all the cases we examine, we find that all the inequalities are satisfied when the bulk satisfies the null energy condition, while the inequalities are all violated when the bulk spacetime violates the null energy condition. A proof of the five-region holographic entropy cone inequalities for the dynamical bulk case remains an open…
