1994/05/27 by B. K. Berger, Beverly K. Berger, David Garfinkle +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/bf02105076
published as Gen.Rel.Grav. 27 (1995) 511-527 · 15 pages Plain TeX, 9 pages of figures available on request by FAX or mail
arxiv created 1994/05/27 · openalex publication_date 1995/05/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We propose to study the behavior of complicated numerical solutions to Einstein's equations for generic cosmologies by following the geodesic motion of a swarm of test particles. As an example, we consider a cylinder of test particles initially at rest in the plane symmetric Gowdy universe on T3 × R. For a circle of test particles in the symmetry plane, the geodesic equations predict evolution of the circle into distortions and rotations of an ellipse as well as motion perpendicular to the plane. The evolutionary sequence of ellipses depends on the initial position of the circle of particles. We display snapshots of the evolution of the cylinder.