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Jerk, snap, and the cosmological equation of state

6 Pith papers cite this work, alongside 625 external citations. Polarity classification is still indexing.

6 Pith papers citing it
625 external citations · Pith
abstract

Taylor expanding the cosmological equation of state around the current epoch is the simplest model one can consider that does not make any a priori restrictions on the nature of the cosmological fluid. Most popular cosmological models attempt to be ``predictive'', in the sense that once somea priori equation of state is chosen the Friedmann equations are used to determine the evolution of the FRW scale factor a(t). In contrast, a retrodictive approach might usefully take observational dataconcerning the scale factor, and use the Friedmann equations to infer an observed cosmological equation of state. In particular, the value and derivatives of the scale factor determined at the current epoch place constraints on the value and derivatives of the cosmological equation of state at the current epoch. Determining the first three Taylor coefficients of the equation of state at the current epoch requires a measurement of the deceleration, jerk, and snap -- the second, third, and fourth derivatives of the scale factor with respect to time. Higher-order Taylor coefficients in the equation of state are related to higher-order time derivatives of the scale factor. Since the jerk and snap are rather difficult to measure, being related to the third and fourth terms in the Taylor series expansion of the Hubble law, it becomes clear why direct observational constraints on the cosmological equation of state are so relatively weak; and are likely to remain weak for the foreseeable future.

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representative citing papers

Mapping the Universe as a Bianchi I cosmology with Gaia data

astro-ph.CO · 2026-05-28 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Gaia quasar proper motions show a significant quadrupole signal matching an axisymmetric Bianchi I anisotropy model, but the amplitude does not increase with redshift as the model requires and the inferred local shear exceeds expectations.

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