Distance Measures In Cosmology

Introduction

Cosmology is the study of the universe. In this project we apply the principles
of general relativity to find out the large scale structure of the universe. As
we will later see through the geometry of our space time, the universe could
be expanding, stationary or in a contracting state. To find out which state
our universe is in, we need to look at the distance of objects at astronomical
distance from us. Due to the large scale at which the measurements need to
be made, it is very difficult to measure the proper distance between objects.
It is because of this that we define some indirect measures of distances called
the distance measures.

Cosmological Principle

The cosmological principle is the idea that the universe is isotropic and is
spatially homogeneous. Hence the forces would be uniform everywhere which
prevent any large scale fluctuations from happening.

2.1

Geometry

The geometry has to do with the form the metric takes in spacetime. To
deduce the form of the metric let us look at two invariants : the line element
and the scalar product.
ds2 = g dx dx

(1)

dx.dy = g dx dx

(2)

Now imagine the space to be filled with observers at each point in space time
each with a clock and three sets of labels xi . The observers are moving in the
1

same way as the mass around them should due to the gravitational attraction
of the uniform space. As the observer has fixed spatial coordinates the, dx
is 0. The proper time will be given by the time read on his clock ie. dx0 = dt.
Hence
ds2 = dt2
g00 = 1

(3)
(4)

In a space which is isotropic g0 cannot point in a specific direction. Hence

we can chose a spatial coordinate system in which g0 is zero, giving the form
of the interval to be
ds2 = dt2 + g dx dx
ds2 = dt2 dl2

(5)
(6)

To arrive at the form of dl2 , picture the spatial part of space time to be
embedded on the surface of a 3-sphere with coordinates(x,y,z,w).
dl2 = dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2 + dw2
x2 + y 2 + z 2 + w 2 = R 2
w 2 = R2 + r 2
rdr
dw =
1
(R2 r2 ) 2

(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)

This gives dl2 to be

dl2 = (dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2 ) +

rdr
1

(11)

(R2 r2 ) 2
Writing the first part of equation(11) in polar form.

dr2
2
2
2
2
2 + r (d + sin d )
1 Rr 2
dr2
ds2 = dt2
r2 (d2 + sin2 d2 )
r2
1 R2
dl2 =

(12)
(13)

2.2

Expanding Universe

The proper distance between two separated galaxies in an isotropic universe

will scale with time as
l(t) = l0 (t).R(t)

(14)

This change can be incorporated into the line element as follows.

ds2 = dt2 R2 (t)

dr2
1 kr2

ds2 = dt2 R2 (t)dl2


2
2
2
2
r (d + sin d )

(15)
(16)

k is a costant which can be chose to be +1,-1 or 0 with a change in units

of r. The k=1 universe can be thought of as the aforementioned embedding
onto a 3-sphere while no interpretation exist for k=0 or 1.Whether the universe is expanding, contracting or stationary depends on the sign of the time
derivative of R(t). The above metric is known as the Friedmann-LematreRobertson-Walker (FLRW) metric

Distance Measures

In the previous section we talked about the nature of the universe, whether
it is expanding, contracting or stationary, depeding on the value of k. Now
to truly find out what the case is, we have to match up the predictions of
the Robertson Walker metric with the observational data. Since the experiments would only yield numbers of measurable magnitude for objects at
great distance from us, we define some of the cosmological distance and ther
dependence on the coordinate distance.

3.1

Proper Distance

To find the proper distance between two objects in the FLRW metric, imagine
an infinite number of observers lying infinitesimally close to each other on
the line of sigth between the two observers. Let one of the observers be at
the origin and the other at (r,,). The distance between two closely spaced
observers will be

(17)
drprop (t) = grr dr
3

Integrate this over the whole cordinate distance from 0 to r to get the proper
disatance.
Z r
Z r
dr

grr dr = R(t)
(18)
rprop (t) =
1 kr2
0
0
From the definition of proper distance it can be easily realised that this type
of ditance wont be of much use in observational cosmology. So we have to
move to some other methods to define distances.

3.2

Parallax Distance

To get the parallax of a distant object we need to know the light path near
the origin. The path that light takes in a frame(x) where the source is at
the origin is simply given by
x0 () = n

(19)

where n is a unit vector and is a parameter. The transformation between

the x and x frame is given by


0
2 12 x .x
0
02 21
(20)
x = x + x1 (1 kx ) (1 (1 kx1 ) ) 2
x1
Here x1 is the coordinate position of the source. Hence the light path will be
given by


n.x1
2 12
2 12
x() = n + x1 (1 k ) (1 (1 kr1 ) ) 2
(21)
r1
1

r1 = (x1 2 ) 2 For light paths close to the origin the unit vector n must point
nearly in the direction of the origin.
n =
x1 + 

(22)

x1 is a unit vector and  is a small vector perpendicular to it. The light path
after inserting it into equation () and retaining terms to first order in  we
get
x '
x1 ((1 kr1 2 )1/2 r1 (1 k2 )1/2 ) + 
4

(23)

The light comes closest to the origin for = r1 . The impact parameter will
be the proper distance fromthe origin to this point
b ' R(t0 )|x(r1 )| ' R(t0 )r1 

(24)

The line of sight wll be given

 by a unit vector in the direction opposite to
dx() 
light near the origin ie d 
r1

u ' x
1 (1 kr12 )1/2 

(25)

The angle between the actual line of sight and the observed line of sight will
be
' |
x1 u1 | = (1 kr12 )1/2

b
R(t0 )r1

(26)

Hence like the parallax distance in euclidean geometry we can define a similar
distance as
r1
(27)
dp = R(t0 )
(1 kr12 )1/2

3.3

Luminosity Distance

To find the apparent luminosity of a distant object, we consider a circular

mirror of radius b at the origin with its normal point in the direction of the
light source.The rays of light just grazing the outer edges of the mirror will
form a cone at the light source with the half angle given by eq 24.Hence the
solid angle formed at the light source will be
||2
b2
= 2
4
R (t0 )r12
The frequency of the photons emitted will be changed by

(28)
R(t1 )
R(t0 )

and the pho-

R(t0 )
tons being emitted at time intervals t1 will reach the source at t1 R(t
.
1)
Hence the total power recieved by the mirror will be related to the absolute
luminosity L of the source be
 2


R (t1 )
A
P =L
(29)
R2 (t0 )
4R2 (t0 )r12

the apparent luminosity and the luminosity distance dl =

given by
l=

3.4

L 1/2
)
4l

will be

LR2 (t1 )
P
=
A
4R4 (t0 )r12
r1
dl = R2 (t0 )
R(t1 )

(30)
(31)

Angular Diameter

In this section we will calculate the apparent angular diameter of a distant

object and define the distance associated with it. Let the object be at r1 , t1
with proper diameter D and the observer be at r=0,t0 . Without loss of
generality assume the source to be at = 0. Let the light from its edges
form a cone at the position of the observer with a half angle /2 . Then the
proper diameter will be given by
D = R(t1 )r1

(32)

Hence as in euclidean geometry the andular diameter distance will be

dA =

3.5

D
= R(t1 )r1

(33)

Proper Motion Distance

In this section we calculate the distance associated with the motion of the
distant object. Let the actual velocity of the body, transverse to the line of
sight be V . In a time t0 it will have moved by a proper distance
D = V t1 = V t0

R(t1 )
R(t0 )

(34)

In the same way as we calculated the angular diameter in the previous section
=

V t0
R(t0 )r1

(35)

In euclidean space the change in apparent position will be V t0 /d . Hence

we can defin the proper motion distance by
V t0

= R(t0 )r1

dM =

(36)

dM

(37)

As can be easily seen, in a flat non expanding spacetime all the above distance
measures give the same distances. All the above formulas still have many unknowns like t1 , r1 , R(t) in them which cant be easily known. Hence we need
another easily measurable quatity with which we correlate this unknowns.As
we will see in the next section this quantity will be the redshift.

Red Shift versus Distance Relation

To find the above mentioned relation we assume a power series expansion for
the cosmic scale factor R(t)
1
R(t) = R(t0 )[1 + H0 (t t0) q0 H02 (t t0 )2 + . . . ]
2

(38)

The redshift is given by

1
0
R(t0 )
z=
1
R(t1 )
z=

(39)
(40)

Hence from the taylor series expansion of the expansion parameter we can
get a series for the red shift
z = H0 (t0 t1 ) + (1 + q0 /2 )H02 (t0 t1 )2 + . . .

(41)

Inverting the taylor series we get an expression for the travel time
t0 t1 =

1
[z (1 q0 /2 )z 2 + . . . ]
H0

(42)

From the metric we get for a lightlike curve, starting at coordinate distance
of r1
Z t0
Z r1
dt
dr

' r1 + O(r13 )
(43)
=
2
R(t)
1 kr
t1
0
Z t0
1
r1 =
(44)
[1 + H0 (t0 t) + (1 + q0 /2 )H02 (t0 t)2 + . . . ]dt
R(t0 ) t1
1
H0
r1 =
[(t0 t1 ) +
(t0 t1 )2 + . . . ]
(45)
R(t0 )
2
7

In terms of the redhift

r1 =

1
1
[z (1 + q0 )z 2 + . . . ]
R(t0 )H0
2

(46)

Hence we can write the luminosity distance just in terms of the redshift
dL = r1

R2 (t0 )
= r1 R(t0 )(1 + z)
R(t1 )

(47)

Since we the standard spectrum of stars is known, the redshift in the light
recieved can be found expermentally and plugged into the different equations
to get the cosmological parameters.

References
[1] James B. Hartle Gravity: An Introduction to Einsteins General Relativity
[2] P.J.E Peebles Principles of Physical Cosmology
[3] Steven Weinberg Gravitation and Cosmology:Principles and applications
of the general theory of relativity
[4] Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my project guide, Professor Shiv Sethi for his valuable
guidance and support. Also the resources available to me throughout the
IISc campus were very helpful.

10