Inhomogeneity-induced cosmic acceleration in a dust universe
Journal
Class. Quant. Grav.
Journal Volume
25
Pages
175001
Date Issued
2005-12
Author(s)
Abstract
It is the common consensus that the expansion of a universe always slows down if the gravity provided by the energy sources therein is attractive and accordingly one needs to invoke dark energy as a source of anti-gravity for understanding the cosmic acceleration. To examine this point we find counterexamples for a spherically symmetric dust fluid described by the Lematre-Tolman-Bondi solution without singularity. Thus, the validity of this naive consensus is indeed doubtful and the effects of inhomogeneities should be restudied. These counter-intuitive examples open a new perspective on the understanding of the evolution of our universe.
Type
journal article