A classification of spherically symmetric self-similar dust models

TL;DR

This paper classifies all spherically symmetric, self-similar dust solutions in Einstein's equations, revealing a variety of cosmological models including expanding, recollapsing, and black hole solutions characterized by two parameters.

Contribution

It provides an explicit classification of all self-similar dust solutions, including their parameters, properties, and asymptotic behaviors, extending understanding of inhomogeneous cosmological models.

Findings

Explicit solutions characterized by parameters E and D.

Identification of models with Big Bang and Big Crunch singularities.

Existence of black hole solutions with apparent horizons but no event horizons.

Abstract

We classify all spherically symmetric dust solutions of Einstein's equations which are self-similar in the sense that all dimensionless variables depend only upon $z\equiv r/t$. We show that the equations can be reduced to a special case of the general perfect fluid models with equation of state $p=\alpha \mu$. The most general dust solution can be written down explicitly and is described by two parameters. The first one (E) corresponds to the asymptotic energy at large $|z|$, while the second one (D) specifies the value of z at the singularity which characterizes such models. The E=D=0 solution is just the flat Friedmann model. The 1-parameter family of solutions with z>0 and D=0 are inhomogeneous cosmological models which expand from a Big Bang singularity at t=0 and are asymptotically Friedmann at large z; models with E>0 are everywhere underdense relative to Friedmann and expand forever, while those with E<0 are everywhere overdense and recollapse to a black hole containing another singularity. The black hole always has an apparent horizon but need not have an event horizon. The D=0 solutions with z<0 are just the time reverse of the z>0 ones. The 2-parameter solutions with D>0 again represent inhomogeneous cosmological models but the Big Bang singularity is at $z=-1/D$, the Big Crunch singularity is at $z=+1/D$, and any particular solution necessarily spans both z<0 and z>0. While there is no static model in the dust case, all these solutions are asymptotically ``quasi-static'' at large $|z|$. As in the D=0 case, the ones with $E \ge 0$ expand or contract monotonically but the latter may now contain a naked singularity. The ones with E<0 expand from or recollapse to a second singularity, the latter containing a black hole.