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The Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) model using Friedmann equations is commonly used to model the universe. The FLRW model provides a curvature of the universe based on the mathematics of fluid dynamics, that is, modeling the matter within the universe as a perfect fluid. Although stars and structures of mass can be introduced ...
In general relativity, gravity can be regarded as not a force but a consequence of a curved spacetime geometry where the source of curvature is the stress–energy tensor (representing matter, for instance). Thus, for example, the path of a planet orbiting a star is the projection of a geodesic of the curved four-dimensional (4-D) spacetime ...
The local geometry of the universe is determined by whether the relative density Ω is less than, equal to or greater than 1. From top to bottom: a spherical universe with greater than critical density (Ω>1, k>0); a hyperbolic, underdense universe (Ω<1, k<0); and a flat universe with exactly the critical density (Ω=1, k=0).
Curved spaces play an essential role in general relativity, where gravity is often visualized as curved spacetime. [2] The Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric is a curved metric which forms the current foundation for the description of the expansion of the universe and the shape of the universe.
Alternatively, as before, k may be taken to belong to the set {−1 ,0, +1} (for negative, zero, and positive curvature respectively). Then r is unitless and a(t) has units of length. When k = ±1, a(t) is the radius of curvature of the space, and may also be written R(t). Note that when k = +1, r is essentially a third angle along with θ and φ.
In mathematical physics, n-dimensional de Sitter space (often denoted dS n) is a maximally symmetric Lorentzian manifold with constant positive scalar curvature.It is the Lorentzian [further explanation needed] analogue of an n-sphere (with its canonical Riemannian metric).
An even larger question is the physics of the earliest universe, prior to the inflationary phase and close to where the classical models predict the big bang singularity. An authoritative answer would require a complete theory of quantum gravity, which has not yet been developed [148] (cf. the section on quantum gravity, below).
The Pound–Rebka experiment says nothing about curvature of the space component of spacetime. But the theoretical arguments predicting gravitational time dilation do not depend on the details of general relativity at all. Any theory of gravity will predict gravitational time dilation if it respects the principle of equivalence.