An astrophysical peek into Einstein's static universe

Abstract

We derive here the metric for Einstein's static universe (ESU) directly from Einstein equation, i.e., by considering both $G_{ik}$ and $T_{ik}$. We find that in order that the fluid pressure and acceleration are {\em uniform} and finite despite the presence of a coordinate singularity, the effective density $ρ_e = ρ+ Λ/8 π=0$, where $Λ$ is the cosmological constant. Under weak energy condition, this would imply $ρ= Λ=0$ for ESU. This means that if one would need to invoke a source of ``repulsive gravity'' in some model, (i) the model must be non-static, (ii) the repulsive gravity must be due to a ``quintessence'' or a ``dark energy'' fluid with negative pressure and appear on the right hand side (RHS) of the Einstein equation through $T_{ij}$ rather than through a fundamental constant residing on the LHS of the same equation, and (iii) energy density of both normal matter and the ``dark energy fluid'' should be time dependent. In fact, the repulsive gravity would be due to a time independent $Λ$, it would be extremely difficult to understand why the associated energy density should be approximately $10^{120}$ times lower than the value predicted by quantum gravity. On the other hand, for a dark energy fluid whose energy density is time dependent, it would be much easier to understand such an extremely low present energy density: the original initial value of the energy density of the fluid could be equal to the quantum gravity value while the present low value is due to decay with time.