Numerically reconstructing the geometry of the Universe from data

Abstract

We give an outline of an algorithm designed to reconstruct the background cosmological metric within the class of spherically symmetric dust universes that may include a cosmological constant. Luminosity and age data are used to derive constraints on the geometry of the universe up to a redshift of $z = 1.75$. It is shown that simple radially inhomogeneous void models that are sometimes used as alternative explanations for the apparent acceleration of the late time Universe cannot be ruled out by these data alone.