Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric

In reduced-circumference polar coordinates the spatial metric has the form[5][6]

${\displaystyle \mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Sigma } ^{2}={\frac {\mathrm {d} r^{2}}{1-kr^{2}}}+r^{2}\mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Omega } ^{2},\quad {\text{where }}\mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Omega } ^{2}=\mathrm {d} \theta ^{2}+\sin ^{2}\theta \,\mathrm {d} \phi ^{2}.}$

k is a constant representing the curvature of the space. There are two common unit conventions:

• k may be taken to have units of length⁻², in which case r has units of length and a(t) is unitless. k is then the Gaussian curvature of the space at the time when a(t) = 1. r is sometimes called the reduced circumference because it is equal to the measured circumference of a circle (at that value of r), centered at the origin, divided by 2π (like the r of Schwarzschild coordinates). Where appropriate, a(t) is often chosen to equal 1 in the present cosmological era, so that ${\displaystyle \mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Sigma } }$ measures comoving distance.
• Alternatively, k may be taken to belong to the set {−1 ,0, +1} (for negative, zero, and positive curvature respectively). Then r is unitless and a(t) has units of length. When k = ±1, a(t) is the radius of curvature of the space, and may also be written R(t).

A disadvantage of reduced circumference coordinates is that they cover only half of the 3-sphere in the case of positive curvature—circumferences beyond that point begin to decrease, leading to degeneracy. (This is not a problem if space is elliptical, i.e. a 3-sphere with opposite points identified.)

In hyperspherical or curvature-normalized coordinates the coordinate r is proportional to radial distance; this gives

${\displaystyle \mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Sigma } ^{2}=\mathrm {d} r^{2}+S_{k}(r)^{2}\,\mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Omega } ^{2}}$

where ${\displaystyle \mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Omega } }$ is as before and

${\displaystyle S_{k}(r)={\begin{cases}{\sqrt {k}}^{\,-1}\sin(r{\sqrt {k}}),&k>0\\r,&k=0\\{\sqrt {|k|}}^{\,-1}\sinh(r{\sqrt {|k|}}),&k<0.\end{cases}}}$

As before, there are two common unit conventions:

• k may be taken to have units of length⁻², in which case r has units of length and a(t) is unitless. k is then the Gaussian curvature of the space at the time when a(t) = 1. Where appropriate, a(t) is often chosen to equal 1 in the present cosmological era, so that ${\displaystyle \mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Sigma } }$ measures comoving distance.
• Alternatively, as before, k may be taken to belong to the set {−1 ,0, +1} (for negative, zero, and positive curvature respectively). Then r is unitless and a(t) has units of length. When k = ±1, a(t) is the radius of curvature of the space, and may also be written R(t). Note that when k = +1, r is essentially a third angle along with θ and φ. The letter χ may be used instead of r.

Though it is usually defined piecewise as above, S is an analytic function of both k and r. It can also be written as a power series

${\displaystyle S_{k}(r)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n}k^{n}r^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}}=r-{\frac {kr^{3}}{6}}+{\frac {k^{2}r^{5}}{120}}-\cdots }$

or as

${\displaystyle S_{k}(r)=r\;\mathrm {sinc} \,(r{\sqrt {k}}),}$

where sinc is the unnormalized sinc function and ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {k}}}$ is one of the imaginary, zero or real square roots of k. These definitions are valid for all k.

When k = 0 one may write simply

${\displaystyle \mathrm {d} \mathbf {\Sigma } ^{2}=\mathrm {d} x^{2}+\mathrm {d} y^{2}+\mathrm {d} z^{2}.}$

This can be extended to k ≠ 0 by defining

${\displaystyle x=r\cos \theta \,}$,

${\displaystyle y=r\sin \theta \cos \phi \,}$, and

${\displaystyle z=r\sin \theta \sin \phi \,}$,

where r is one of the radial coordinates defined above, but this is rare.

In flat ${\displaystyle (k=0)}$ FLRW space using Cartesian coordinates, the surviving components of the Ricci tensor are[7]

${\displaystyle R_{tt}=-3{\frac {\ddot {a}}{a}},\quad R_{xx}=R_{yy}=R_{zz}=c^{-2}(a{\ddot {a}}+2{\dot {a}}^{2})}$

and the Ricci scalar is

${\displaystyle R=6c^{-2}\left({\frac {{\ddot {a}}(t)}{a(t)}}+{\frac {{\dot {a}}^{2}(t)}{a^{2}(t)}}\right).}$

In more general FLRW space using spherical coordinates (called "reduced-circumference polar coordinates" above), the surviving components of the Ricci tensor are[8]

${\displaystyle R_{tt}=-3{\frac {\ddot {a}}{a}},}$

${\displaystyle R_{rr}={\frac {c^{-2}(a(t){\ddot {a}}(t)+2{\dot {a}}^{2}(t))+2k}{1-kr^{2}}}}$

${\displaystyle R_{\theta \theta }=r^{2}(c^{-2}(a(t){\ddot {a}}(t)+2{\dot {a}}^{2}(t))+2k)}$

${\displaystyle R_{\phi \phi }=r^{2}(c^{-2}(a(t){\ddot {a}}(t)+2{\dot {a}}^{2}(t))+2k)\sin ^{2}(\theta )}$

and the Ricci scalar is

${\displaystyle R=6\left({\frac {{\ddot {a}}(t)}{c^{2}a(t)}}+{\frac {{\dot {a}}^{2}(t)}{c^{2}a^{2}(t)}}+{\frac {k}{a^{2}(t)}}\right).}$

The pair of equations given above is equivalent to the following pair of equations

${\displaystyle {\dot {\rho }}=-3{\frac {\dot {a}}{a}}\left(\rho +{\frac {p}{c^{2}}}\right)}$

${\displaystyle {\frac {\ddot {a}}{a}}=-{\frac {4\pi G}{3}}\left(\rho +{\frac {3p}{c^{2}}}\right)+{\frac {\Lambda c^{2}}{3}}}$

with ${\displaystyle k}$, the spatial curvature index, serving as a constant of integration for the first equation.

The first equation can be derived also from thermodynamical considerations and is equivalent to the first law of thermodynamics, assuming the expansion of the universe is an adiabatic process (which is implicitly assumed in the derivation of the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric).

The second equation states that both the energy density and the pressure cause the expansion rate of the universe ${\displaystyle {\dot {a}}}$ to decrease, i.e., both cause a deceleration in the expansion of the universe. This is a consequence of gravitation, with pressure playing a similar role to that of energy (or mass) density, according to the principles of general relativity. The cosmological constant, on the other hand, causes an acceleration in the expansion of the universe.

The cosmological constant term can be omitted if we make the following replacements

${\displaystyle \rho \rightarrow \rho -{\frac {\Lambda c^{2}}{8\pi G}}}$

${\displaystyle p\rightarrow p+{\frac {\Lambda c^{4}}{8\pi G}}.}$

Therefore, the cosmological constant can be interpreted as arising from a form of energy which has negative pressure, equal in magnitude to its (positive) energy density:

${\displaystyle p=-\rho c^{2}\,}$

which is an equation of state of vacuum with dark energy.

An attempt to generalize this to

${\displaystyle p=w\rho c^{2}\,}$

would not have general invariance without further modification.

In fact, in order to get a term which causes an acceleration of the universe expansion, it is enough to have a scalar field which satisfies

${\displaystyle p<-{\frac {\rho c^{2}}{3}}.\,}$

Such a field is sometimes called quintessence.

This is due to McCrea and Milne,[11] although sometimes incorrectly ascribed to Friedmann. The Friedmann equations are equivalent to this pair of equations:

${\displaystyle -a^{3}{\dot {\rho }}=3a^{2}{\dot {a}}\rho +{\frac {3a^{2}p{\dot {a}}}{c^{2}}}\,}$

${\displaystyle {\frac {{\dot {a}}^{2}}{2}}-{\frac {G{\frac {4\pi a^{3}}{3}}\rho }{a}}=-{\frac {kc^{2}}{2}}\,.}$

The first equation says that the decrease in the mass contained in a fixed cube (whose side is momentarily a) is the amount which leaves through the sides due to the expansion of the universe plus the mass equivalent of the work done by pressure against the material being expelled. This is the conservation of mass–energy (first law of thermodynamics) contained within a part of the universe.

The second equation says that the kinetic energy (seen from the origin) of a particle of unit mass moving with the expansion plus its (negative) gravitational potential energy (relative to the mass contained in the sphere of matter closer to the origin) is equal to a constant related to the curvature of the universe. In other words, the energy (relative to the origin) of a co-moving particle in free-fall is conserved. General relativity merely adds a connection between the spatial curvature of the universe and the energy of such a particle: positive total energy implies negative curvature and negative total energy implies positive curvature.

The cosmological constant term is assumed to be treated as dark energy and thus merged into the density and pressure terms.

During the Planck epoch, one cannot neglect quantum effects. So they may cause a deviation from the Friedmann equations.