Abstract
I discuss various definitions of the flatness problem and previous claims that it does not exist. I also present a new quantitative argument which shows that it does not exist in cosmological models which collapse in the future.
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Notes
- 1.
Historically, the flatness problem was first discussed during a time when \(\lambda \) was thought to be zero. If \(\lambda \) is not constrained to be zero, then the flatness problem should be re-phrased as the Einstein– de Sitter problem, i.e. the question is why the universe is (in some sense) close to the Einstein–de Sitter model (which is an unstable fixed point and a repulsor) today when \(|\lambda |\) and \(\varOmega \) can take on values between \(0\) and \(\infty \). However, for brevity I will continue to use the term ‘flatness problem’ even for the more general case and sometimes mention only the change in \(\varOmega \) with time.
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Helbig, P. (2014). Is There a Flatness Problem in Classical Cosmology?. In: Bičák, J., Ledvinka, T. (eds) Relativity and Gravitation. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 157. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06761-2_50
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06761-2_50
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