Density perturbations in a universe dominated by the Chaplygin gas (Q1604935)

The authors solve the intriguing missing mass problem of general relativity theory when applied to the motion of spiral galaxies and galaxy clusters, and the first acoustic peak of the spectrum of the anisotropy of cosmic background radiation. A fraction of the missing mass has been called dark energy since it does not cluster and remains a smooth component of the universe. The Chaplygin gas represents a possible candidate for the dark energy. It obeys formally the equations of Newtonian hydrodynamics and is stable at small scale. The present paper studies the fate of density perturbations in a universe dominated by the Chaplygin gas of negative pressure. In contrast to other cosmological models based on perfect fluids with negative pressure, there is no instability in the small wavelength limit, due to the fact that the sound velocity for the Chaplygin gas is positive. In many other perfect fluid models with negative pressure, however, the sound velocity becomes imaginary. The paper obtains the value of the density by fixing a free parameter in the equation of state.