arXiv subjects

Alvaro Dominguez

Publications and source records attributed to Alvaro Dominguez.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2000

Hydrodynamic approach to the evolution of cosmological structures

A hydrodynamic formulation of the evolution of large-scale structure in the Universe is presented. It relies on the spatially coarse-grained description of the dynamical evolution of a many-body gravitating system. Because of the assumed irrelevance of short-range (``collisional'') interactions, the way to tackle the hydrodynamic equations is essentially different from the usual case. The main assumption is that the influence of the small scales over the large-scale evolution is weak: this idea is implemented in the form of a large-scale expansion for the coarse-grained equations. This expansion builds a framework in which to derive in a controlled manner the popular ``dust'' model (as the lowest-order term) and the ``adhesion'' model (as the first-order correction). It provides a clear physical interpretation of the assumptions involved in these models and also the possibility to improve over them.

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arXiv1999

The fractal distribution of galaxies and the transition to homogeneity

There is an ongoing debate in cosmology about the value of the length scale at which ``homogeneity'' in the matter distribution is reached or even if such a scale exists. In the wake of this debate, we intend in this letter to clarify the meaning of the statement transition to homogeneity and of the concept of correlation length. We show that there are two scales each associated to the fractal and to the homogeneous regimes of the matter distribution, respectively. The distinction between both scales has deep consequences, for there can be a regime which despite having small fluctuations around the average density exhibits large clusters of galaxies.

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arXiv1999

Extending the scope of models for large-scale structure formation in the Universe

We propose a phenomenological generalization of the models of large-scale structure formation in the Universe by gravitational instability in two ways: we include pressure forces to model multi-streaming, and noise to model fluctuations due to neglected short-scale physical processes. We show that pressure gives rise to a viscous-like force of the same character as that one introduced in the ``adhesion model'', while noise leads to a roughening of the density field yielding a scaling behavior of its correlations.

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arXiv1998

Modeling multi-stream flow in collisionless matter: approximations for large-scale structure beyond shell-crossing

The generally held view that a model of large-scale structure, formed by collisionless matter in the Universe, can be based on the matter model ``dust'' fails in the presence of multi-stream flow, i.e., velocity dispersion. We argue that models for large-scale structure should rather be constructed for a flow which describes the average motion of a multi-stream system. We present a clearcut reasoning how to approach the problem and derive an evolution equation for the mean peculiar-velocity relative to background solutions of Friedmann-Lema\^ıtre type. We consider restrictions of the nonlinear problem and show that the effect of velocity dispersion gives rise to an effective viscosity of non-dissipative gravitational origin. We discuss subcases which arise naturally from this approach: the ``sticky particle model'' and the ``adhesion approximation''. We also construct a novel approximation that features adhesive action in the multi-stream regime while conserving momentum, which was considered a drawback of the standard approximation based on Burger's equation. We finally argue that the assumptions made to obtain these models should be relaxed and we discuss how this can be achieved.

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