Nonlinear stability of Einstein-de Sitter universes

Abstract

The Einstein-de Sitter universe is the prevailing model used in cosmology to describe the cold dark matter-dominated epoch of the universe. This model is a spatially homogeneous and isotropic spacetime undergoing decelerated expansion, and is linearly unstable under the Einstein-Euler equations with a pressureless fluid equation of state. We show that every initial data set for the Einstein-Euler equations on $\mathbb{T}^3$ with a near-flat metric and positive fluid energy density converges to a flat metric under the Einstein-Euler flow with a polytropic equation of state. This means the metric asymptotes to an Einstein-de Sitter spacetime. In particular, this settles the question of whether the Einstein-de Sitter model can be nonlinearly stable for an appropriate matter model.