Do General Relativistic Universes Oscillate
Near the Initial Singularity?
Marsha Weaver
University of Oregon
Friday, 13 February, 5 PM
Kidder 364, Oregon State University
Observational astronomy and general relativity theory have given us a model of
an expanding universe. General relativity's contribution to this model
assumes homogeneity and isotropy of space -- the expansion is the same in all
places and in all directions. There is a class of spatially inhomogeneous and
anisotropic spacetimes that differ from the standard cosmological model in
that while the overall volume of space is still always increasing everywhere,
there are oscillations between expansion and contraction for a period of time
near the initial singularity in any one direction and at any place.
Furthermore, the presence of the inhomogeneity becomes insignificant to the
dynamics asymptotically toward the singularity. This class of spacetimes will
be described and questions about the relevance of the behavior of these models
both to our particular universe and to the generic behavior of general
relativistic spacetimes will be addressed.