1997/12/01 by Nazeem Mustapha, Charles Hellaby, G. F. R. Ellis +1 · 2 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #A priori and a posteriori #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Homogeneity (statistics) #Isotropy #Mathematics #Optics #Physics #Statistical physics #Statistics #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Theoretical physics #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/292.4.817
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 292 (1997) 817-830 · mn style, mn.sty file included, mn.sty file removed
openalex publication_date 1997/12/01 · arxiv created 1998/08/28 · arxiv updated 2015/06/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We reconsider the issue of proving large-scale spatial homogeneity of the Universe, given isotropic observations about us and the possibility of source evolution in both numbers and luminosities. Two theorems make precise the freedom available in constructing cosmological models that will fit the observations. They make it quite clear that homogeneity cannot be proven without either a fully determinate theory of source evolution, or availability of distance measures that are independent of source evolution. We contrast this goal with the standard approach that assumes spatial homogeneity a priori, and determines source evolution functions on the basis of this assumption.