Spatially Homogeneous Dynamics: A Unified Picture

Abstract

The Einstein equations for a perfect fluid spatially homogeneous spacetime are studied in a unified manner by retaining the generality of certain parameters whose discrete values correspond to the various Bianchi types of spatial homogeneity. A parameter-dependent decomposition of the metric variables adapted to the symmetry breaking effects of the nonabelian Bianchi types on the "free dynamics" leads to a reduction of the equations of motion for those variables to a 2-dimensional time-dependent Hamiltonian system containing various time-dependent potentials which are explicitly described and diagrammed. These potentials are extremely useful in deducing the gross features of the evolution of the metric variables.