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Topology and the universe

J Richard Gott and III

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Topology may play an important role in cosmology in several different ways. First, Einstein's field equations tell us about the local geometry of the universe but not about its topology. Therefore, the universe may be multiply connected. Inflation predicts that the fluctuations that made clusters and groups of galaxies arose from random quantum fluctuations in the early universe. These should be Gaussian random phase. This can be tested by quantitatively measuring the topology of large-scale structure in the universe using the genus statistic. If the original fluctuations were Gaussian random phase then the structure we see today should have a spongelike topology. A number of studies by our group and others have shown that this is indeed the case. Future tests using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey should be possible. Microwave background fluctuations should also exhibit a characteristic symmetric pattern of hot and cold spots. The COBE data are consistent with this pattern and the MAP and PLANCK satellites should provide a definitive test. If the original inflationary state was metastable then it should decay by making an infinite number of open inflationary bubble universes. This model makes a specific prediction for the power spectrum of fluctuations in the microwave background which can be checked by the MAP and PLANCK satellites. Finally, Gott and Li have proposed how a multiply connected cosmology with an early epoch of closed timelike curves might allow the universe to be its own mother.


PACS

04.20.-q Classical general relativity

98.80.Cq Particle-theory and field-theory models of the early Universe (including cosmic pancakes, cosmic strings, chaotic phenomena, inflationary universe, etc.)

02.40.-k Geometry, differential geometry, and topology

98.70.Vc Background radiations

98.80.Es Observational cosmology (including Hubble constant, distance scale, cosmological constant, early Universe, etc)

MSC

83F05 Cosmology

83C05 Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems)

Subjects

Mathematical physics

Gravitation and cosmology

Astrophysics and astroparticles

Dates

Issue 9 (September 1998)

Received 23 July 1998



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