Theory of a cosmic shock-wave (Q1852693)

In a recent paper [Cosmology with a shock-wave. Commun. Math. Phys. 210, 275-308 (2000; Zbl 1009.83067)], the authors incorporated a shock wave into the standard model of cosmology by assuming that shock waves are in the time evolution of solutions of the Einstein equations for a perfect fluid, just as they are in the time evolution of solutions of the classical compressible Euler equations. Thus, the equations for the Einstein curvature tensor in terms of the stress energy tensor are considered under the assumption that there are discontinuities in the fluid variables across some smooth shock surface \(\Sigma\). The present article is concerned with the derivation of the conservation constraint which is used to derive the equation for the shock position by means of a procedure outlined in the original paper. The ensuing problem of matching the standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric of cosmology to a static Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff metric across \(\Sigma\) leads to a reformulation of the conservation constraint. If the shock wave is much beyond the Hubble distance from the center of the explosion, the conclusion is that the expanding universe is inside the Schwarzschild radius [\textit{J. Smoller} and \textit{B. Temple}, Phys. Rev. D (3) 55, 7518-7528 (1997)].