Fragility in cosmology (Q1200409)

This paper provides a thorough review of the problem of the fragility (lack of stability) of cosmological models in general relativity viewed as generalized dynamical systems. The subject is approached from various aspects. One is the standard dynamical question of the stability of the time evolution problem under perturbations of initial conditions. Another is the question of the stability of the problem under changes of assumptions of symmetry, matter models, etc. Yet another set of questions concerns the stability under ``perturbations'' of the theory in the sense of modifications of the assumed Lagrangian, space-time dimension, etc. The conclusion is that these are in general difficult but important questions for cosmology. The intention of the authors is to provide some groundwork for further investigations.