arXiv subjects

Jean-Pierre Luminet

Publications and source records attributed to Jean-Pierre Luminet.

42 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv1999

A New Crystallographic Method for Detecting Space Topology

Multi-connected universe models with space identification scales smaller than the size of the observable universe produce topological images of cosmic sources. We generalise to locally hyperbolic spaces the crystallographic method, aimed to detect the topology from three-dimensional catalogs of cosmological objects. Our new method is based on the construction of a {\it collecting-correlated-pair} technique which enhances the topological signature and can make it detectable. The main idea is that in multi-connected universes, equal distances occur more often than by chance. We present an idealised version of this method as well as numerical simulations, we discuss the statistical relevance of the expected signature and we show how the extraction of a topological signal may also lead to a precise determination of the cosmological parameters. A more realistic version of the method which takes account of uncertainties in the position and velocity data is then discussed. We apply our technique to presently available data, namely a quasar catalog, and discuss the significance of the result. We show how the improved crystallographic method both competes with the two--dimensional methods based on cosmic microwave background analyses, and suffers from the same drawback: the shortage of present observational data.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Topology of the Universe: Theory and Observations

``One could imagine that as a result of enormously extended astronomical experience, the entire universe consists of countless identical copies of our Milky Way, that the infinite space can be partitioned into cubes each containing an exactly identical copy of our Milky Way. Would we really cling on to the assumption of infinitely many identical repetitions of the same world? >... We would be much happier with the view that these repetitions are illusory, that in reality space has peculiar connection properties so that if we leave any one cube through a side, then we immediately reenter it through the opposite side.'' (Schwarzschild 1900, translation 1998) Developments in the theoretical and observational sides of cosmic topology were slow for most of the century, but are now progressing rapidly, at the scale of most interest which is 1-10 h^-1 Gpc rather than 10kpc. The historical, mathematical and observational sides of this subject are briefly reviewed in this course.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Constraining Curvature Parameters via Topology

If the assumption that physical space has a trivial topology is dropped, then the Universe may be described by a multiply connected Friedmann-Lema\^ıtre model on a sub-horizon scale. Specific candidates for the multiply connected space manifold have already been suggested. How precisely would a significant detection of multiple topological images of a single object, or a region on the cosmic microwave background, (due to photons arriving at the observer by multiple paths which have crossed the Universe in different directions), constrain the values of the curvature parameters $Ω_0$ and $λ_0$? The way that the constraints on $Ω_0$ and $λ_0$ depend on the redshifts of multiple topological images and on their radial and tangential separations is presented and calculated. The tangential separations give the tighter constraints: multiple topological images of known types of astrophysical objects at redshifts $z \ltapprox 3$ would imply values of $Ω_0$ and $λ_0$ preciser than $\sim 1%$ and $\sim 10%$ respectively. Cosmic microwave background `spots' identified with lower redshift objects by the Planck or MAP satellites would provide similar precision. This method is purely geometrical: no dynamical assumptions (such as the virial theorem) are required and the constraints are independent of the Hubble constant, $H_0.$

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Topological lens effects in universes with non-Euclidean compact spatial sections

Universe models with compact spatial sections smaller than the observable universe produce a topological lens effect. Given a catalog of cosmic sources, we estimate the number of topological images in locally hyperbolic and locally elliptic spaces, as a function of the cosmological parameters, of the volume of the spatial sections and of the catalog depth. Next we apply the crystallographic method, aimed to detect a topological signal in the 3D distance histogram between images, to compact hyperbolic models. Numerical calculations in the Weeks manifold allows us to check the absence of crystallographic signature of topology, due to the fact that the number of copies of the fundamental domain in the observable covering space is low and that the points are not moved the same distance by the holonomies of space.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

Past and Future of Cosmic Topology

In the first part I set out some unexplored historical material about the early development of cosmic topology. In the second part I briefly comment new developments in the field since the Lachieze-Rey & Luminet report (1995), both from a theoretical and an observational point of view.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1998

Black Holes : A General Introduction

Our understanding of space and time is probed to its depths by black holes. These objects, which appear as a natural consequence of general relativity, provide a powerful analytical tool able to examine macroscopic and microscopic properties of the universe. This introductory article presents in a pictorial way the basic concepts of black hole's theory, as well as a description of the astronomical sites where black holes are suspected to lie, namely binary X-ray sources and galactic nuclei.

astro-ph↗