Singularities in FLRW spacetimes
Open accessAbstract
We point out that past-incompleteness of geodesics in FLRW spacetimes does not necessarily imply that these spacetimes start from a singularity. Namely, if a test particle that follows such a trajectory has a non-vanishing velocity, its energy was super-Planckian at some time in the past if it kept following that geodesic. That indicates a breakdown of the particle's description, which is why we should not consider those trajectories for the definition of an initial singularity. When one only considers test particles that do not have this breakdown of their trajectory, it turns out that the only singular FLRW spacetimes are the ones that have a scale parameter that vanishes at some initial time.
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If only particles not reaching super-Planckian scales are considered, then there will be no singularities if the cosmological scale factor is not vanishing.
“As further shown in [36], when only the particles not reaching the super-Planckian scales are considered, then there will be no singularities if the cosmological scale factor is not vanishing.”
From Geodesically complete cyclic cosmologies and entropy (2024) · cites this paper as [36]
Absence of geodesic completeness does not necessarily imply the existence of a physical singularity.
“As very properly pointed out by [36], the absence of geodesic completeness does not necessary imply the existence of a physical singularity.”
From Geodesically complete cyclic cosmologies and entropy (2024) · cites this paper as [36]
Cites
Inflationary Spacetimes Are Incomplete in Past Directions
Borde, A., Guth, A. H., & Vilenkin, A. (2003) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.90.151301 · Cited by 582 · see citing works
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Geodesically complete cyclic cosmologies and entropy
Pavlović, P., & Sossich, M. (2024) · The European Physical Journal C · doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-12621-z · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- het Lam, H., & Prokopec, T.
- Affiliations
- Utrecht University (NL)
- ORCID
- Prokopec, Tomislav
- Venue
- Physics Letters B
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-12
- Volume
- 775
- Pages
- 311-314
- ISSN
- 0370-2693 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2419073430
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 0.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Physics Letters B (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Relativity and Gravitational Theory
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories
- Keywords
- FLRW spacetime, initial singularity, test particles, cosmic scale factor, cosmological singularity
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