The Effects of Inhomogeneities on Evaluating the mass parameter $\Omega_m$ and the cosmological constant $\Lambda$

Abstract

Analytic expressions for distance-redshift relations which have been corrected for the effects of inhomogeneities in the Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) mass density are given in terms of Heun functions and are used to illustrate the significance of inhomogeneities on a determination of the mass parameter $\Omega_m$ and the cosmological constant $\Lambda$. The values of these parameters inferred from a given set of observations depend on the fractional amount of matter in inhomogeneities and can significantly differ from those obtained by using the standard magnitude-redshift ($m$-$z$) result for pure dust FLRW models. As an example a determination of $\Omega_m$ made by applying the homogeneous distance-redshift relation to SN 1997ap at $z=0.83$ could be as much as 50% lower than its true value.