Existence of blueshifts in quasi-spherical Szekeres spacetimes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that strong blueshifts, including infinite blueshifts, can occur in quasi-spherical Szekeres spacetimes, extending previous results from symmetric models to more general, asymmetric cosmological models.

Contribution

It shows that infinite blueshifts are possible in non-symmetric Szekeres models, identifying specific directions where these blueshifts occur, thus broadening understanding of light behavior in complex cosmological spacetimes.

Findings

Infinite blueshifts occur along axial rays in axially symmetric models.

Rays emitted shortly after the Big Bang near the symmetry axis exhibit strong blueshifts.

In non-symmetric models, rays near certain directions also show similar blueshift profiles.

Abstract

In Lema\^{\i}tre -- Tolman (L--T) models, light rays emitted \textit{radially} at the Big Bang (BB) at such radial coordinates $r$ where the bang-time function $t_B(r)$ has $\dril {t_B} r \neq 0$ reach every observer with \textit{infinite blueshift}, $z = -1$. Consequently, there exist rays, emitted soon after the BB, that will reach later observers with finite blueshift ($-1 < z < 0$). But in spacetimes without symmetry there are no radial directions. The question thus arises whether blueshifts can exist at all in the Szekeres models that contain L--T as a limit, but in general have no symmetry. The aim of the present paper is to show that strong blueshifts can be generated in quasi-spherical Szekeres (QSS) models. It is shown that in an axially symmetric QSS model, infinite blueshift can appear only on axial rays, which intersect every space orthogonal to the dust flow on the symmetry axis. In an exemplary QSS model it is numerically shown that if such a ray is emitted from the Big Bang where $\dril {t_B} r \neq 0$, then indeed observers see it with $z \approx -1$. Rays emitted shortly after the BB and running close to the symmetry axis will reach the observers with a strong blueshift, too. Then, in a toy QSS model that has no symmetry, it was shown by numerical calculations that two null lines exist such that rays in their vicinity have redshift profiles similar to those in a vicinity of the axial rays in the axially symmetric case. This indicates that rays generating infinite blueshifts exist in general QSS spacetimes and are concentrated around two directions.