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Full-Text Articles in Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity
Evolution Of Density And Velocity Perturbations In A Slowly Contracting Universe, Olivia R. Bitcon
Evolution Of Density And Velocity Perturbations In A Slowly Contracting Universe, Olivia R. Bitcon
Honors Undergraduate Theses
One focus of research in cosmology regards the growth of structure in the universe: how we end up with stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, and large scale structure in a universe that appears homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. Using cosmological perturbation theory, we investigate the evolution of density and velocity perturbations corresponding to a universe that is slowly contracting (Ijjas and Steinhardt), testing with and comparing different values for the equation-of-state parameter. This allows for the comparison of the growth of large scale structure in scenarios including a matter-dominated expanding universe, a dark energy-dominated expanding universe, and now, an ekpyrotic …