Understanding the Differences between Event Horizons, Particle Horizons, Hubble Spheres, Proper Distances, Comoving Coordinates, and

Conformal Time, with a Special Clarification of Why Galaxies with Superluminal Expansion Rates Can be Observed Today.
Thomas Mozdzen1
1

Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona tmozdzen@asu.edu Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of several the cosmological terms: event horizon, particle horizon, past light cone, worldline, Hubble sphere, and conformal time. We state clear definitions of the terms, demonstrate how to calculate them in terms of proper distance at time of emission and at time of observation, plot them vs. both scale factor and time, and explain their meanings and implications. One item of confusion in the literature is the concept of seeing the light from galaxies which are moving away from us at superluminal speeds. We resolve special relativity concerns about this ability by discussion the Hubble sphere, which is not a horizon, but the distance away from the observer at which recession velocities exceed the speed of light. We show that we can observe galaxies which are beyond the Hubble sphere despite having a recessional velocity greater than the speed of light. We also calculate and discuss the particle horizon, the event horizon, past light cone, and the difference between proper time and conformal time. We will transform the equations for distance from functions of redshift z, into functions of time t so that we can extend the calculations into the future. By deriving the equations to calculate these terms, much insight will be gained into the nature of these quantities. Additionally, by plotting these quantities in various graphical forms, we can more easily explain the meanings of these curves as they evolve with time. The foremost goal of this paper is to derive a better understanding of the time evolution of cosmological distances, horizons, light cones, worldlines, and their physical implications.

1. Introduction
Lineweaver gives several examples of leading astrophysicists making statements which are misleading or easily misinterpreted regarding recession velocities, horizons, and the observable universe[1-2]. Longair was inspired by Lineweaver to devote a section of chapter 12 in his textbook on this very subject [3]. This paper will focus on clarifying the details shown in space-time diagrams with the intent to a) understand the terms: particle horizon, event horizon, past light cone, Hubble sphere,

worldline, and conformal time; and b) clearly demonstrate how we can see light which originates from galaxies receding from us at superluminal velocities. This paper is organized by starting with a Theory and Definitions section where key terms are defined and explicit equations are given to calculate their progression with time. Where appropriate, discussion is provided to explain any subtleties needed to plot these items on the space-time graphs. The Results section displays the spacetime diagrams derived from the equations in the theory section. These diagrams and the superluminal clarification are then discussed in the Discussion section and the paper finishes with a Conclusion section. Additional mathematical details of the evaluation of several equations are given in the Appendix.

2. Theory and Definitions

Terminology clarification: Lineweaver calls proper distance at the time of observation, dp(t0), the comoving coordinate separation . He also calls dp(te), the Proper Distance, D. We will try to keep these terms clear. We begin by stating the Robertson-Walker (RW) metric for reference: , (1) where = the comoving coordinate separation ( dp(t0) per Ryden ). For world lines, we consider the paths of photons, where they travel along null geodesics (ds = 0) and along the radial distance (d = 0) giving . (2) Using this equation we can now calculate several distances. A. Comoving Coordinate Distances, i (dp(t0)) The particle horizon is the distance light can travel from the beginning of time at t = 0 until it is observed at a time t. Thus, Particle Horizon:

(3)

The event horizon is the distance a particle can travel from a given time t to t = . Event Horizon:

(4)

The Past Light Cone of an object is the comoving coordinate of a comoving object that emitted its light at t = tem that we see now at t = to. Past Light Cone:

(5)

B. Proper Distances at the time of emission dp(te) The distances calculated above are comoving coordinate distances, I, which are proper distances at the time of observation. To convert to proper distance at the time of emission, Di , we refer again to the RW metric. The proper distance, D, is defined to be along a surface of constant time (dt = 0), and along the radial distance (d = 0). Thus and after integrating holding time constant, (6) Proper Distance D(t) or dp(te): Therefore we can transform the comoving coordinate distances, dp(t0), into proper distances dp(te) simply by multiplying by a(t): , (7) , (8) . (9) The Hubble sphere is defined to be the distance beyond which the recession velocity exceeds the speed of light, or / . Since this is a proper distance, we have: / , and (10) / . (11) The last distance we need to calculate is the worldline of objects that are today a certain redshift, z, away from us. The worldline of an object is defined to be and (12) . . . . . (13) . . . . These equations can be confusing to interpret. Equation 13 means that the comoving coordinate of an object at the time (te) it emitted its light, which we see at time t0, does not change throughout time that is, the distance at time of emission does not change as a function of when you happen to observe that light. However, the distance at the time of observation does change for objects of a given redshift in different epochs and we multiply by a factor of a(t). The last concept is conformal time. It is simply defined by the equation: Conformal time . (14)

3. Results
Now that we have defined these various quantities in section 2, we will now plot them to make space-time diagrams. Three key graphs will plot the particle horizon, event horizon, Hubble sphere, past light cone and worldliness for objects of z = 1, 3, 10, and 1000 vs time. A secondary (slightly non-linear) vertical axis of scale factor will also be shown. Fig. 1 shows the relationship between scale factor and proper time Hot. All calculations in this paper assume a flat universe with 0.3, 0.7 , Ho = 70 km/Mpc-s, and to = 13.5 Gyrs. r is ignored.
2.00 1.80 1.60 1.40 1.20 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 0.00 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50

Ho t

a vs Hot a vs a

2.00

Figure 1. Hot vs scalefactor a is compared to a straight line for a world model of 0.3 0.7 with

,

ln

The first space-time diagram, Fig. 2, will have units of time vs proper distance at time of emission. The second space-time diagram, Fig. 3, will have units of time vs. comoving distance (proper distance at time of observation). The last space-time diagram, Fig. 4, will plot conformal time vs. comoving distance. In each space-time diagram the same quantities are plotted. Note once again that time is the primary, linear variable on the y axis. The corresponding values of a(t) are displayed on the secondary y axis but should not be linear. In Figs. 1 and 2, they are incorrectly labeled in a linear fashion because of limitations in the graphic software, but Fig. 3 has more accurate labels entered by hand. The detailed form of the basic equation used to numerically calculate the various comoving distances is detailed in the Appendix.

z=10
1.8 1.6 1.4

z=3

z=1

z=1

z=3

z=10

25

z=1000 event horizon now Hubble sphere

20

z=1000
15

Scalsefactor a

1.0 0.8

past
0.6

particle horizon

10

light
0.4 0.2 0.0 -60.00 5

cone
0 60.00

-40.00

-20.00

0.00

20.00

40.00

Proper Distance D or dp(te) (Glyr)

Figure 2. Space-time diagram using proper distance and time.

z=1000
1.8 1.6

z=10

z=3

z=1

z=1

z=3

z=10

z=1000
25

20

Scalefactor a

1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 5

now

15

10

Hubble sphere
0

Comoving Distance or dp(t0) (Glyr)

Figure 3. Space-time diagram using comoving distance and time.

time (Gyr)

time (Gyr)

1.2

70

z=1000

z=10

z=3

z=1

z=1

z=3

z=10

z=1000

60

Conformal Time (Gyr)

-3.0
50

40

30

-0.4 -0.2 -0.1

20

10

0 -60.00

-0.01 -0.001
-40.00 -20.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00

Comoving Distance, (Glyr)

Figure 4. Space-time diagram using comoving distance and conformal time.

4. Discussion
A. Observing Galaxies moving away from us at superluminal velocities The Hubble sphere defines the boundary of superluminal recession velocity. Light or galaxies outside this boundary will recede faster than the speed of light. Note in Fig. 2 that in the early universe, our past light cone was outside the Hubble sphere. The reason we can see galaxies today which are receding away from us faster than the speed of light is that the Hubble parameter, H(t) is decreasing with time. The photons travel towards us and find themselves in a region of space which isnt receding as quickly and thus can catch up to us. In Fig. 2, we can see that the Hubble sphere expands and our past light cone shrinks after they intersect, the photons are then receding slower than the speed of light and we will eventually be able to see them. Fig. 5 shows a graph of the Hubble parameter vs. time. Note that even though space is expanding exponentially, the Hubble parameter is approaching a constant value of 0.84H0. From inspection of Fig. 2 or 3, today, all galaxies with redshift greater than z ~ 1.45 are receding from us at superluminal velocities. exp 1 , and (15) 1
,

~ 0.84

~ 58

for

[4]

(16)

Scalefactor a

now

-1.0 -0.8

B. Particle Horizon, Event Horizon, and Past Light Cone The particle horizon marks our observable universe. It is the most distant light we can see because it was emitted at t=0 and is just reaching us now. In contrast, the event horizon is the furthest light that we will be able to see that was emitted now. Thus the particle horizon is larger because we allow the light to start on its path to us at a much earlier time. Examining Fig. 2, we see that our current event horizon is at a distance corresponding to objects of redshift ~1.8.This means that the light emitted today, by anything further away than redshift 1.8, will not be able to be observed by us anytime in the future. The outline of the past light cone is a history of the distance a light beam took to get to us. When we view this in Fig. 2, the universe was small and thus the proper distance away from the object was small. For the first 5 Glyr, the light was moving away from us (positive slope) before it was able to move to a slower expanding portion of space (inflection point is where it crossed the Hubble sphere) and approach us (negative slope). Fig. 4 is useful to see the distances at the ends of time as all but the Hubble sphere become straight lines. Our past light cone and particle horizon both clearly show that the proper distance to the most distant objects we can see today is ~46 Glyr. We also see that as time nears infinity, our light cone approaches the event horizon. This means that the most distant objects we will ever be able to see will be ~62 Glyr. The merging of the Hubble sphere and the event horizon is also another indication that there will be a finite upper limit to the distance from which we can observe an object.

H(a) (km/Mpc-s)

400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0

a
Figure 5. Hubble parameter vs. a.

5. Conclusions
We have presented the concepts of particle horizon, event horizon, Hubble sphere and past light cone and graphically showed their time evolution in both proper distance and comoving distance forms. We explained why superluminal galaxies can be observed by use of the Hubble sphere and a plot of the Hubble parameter vs. time, and in fact, all galaxies with redshift greater than z ~1.45 are receding superluminally, yet we routinely observe them.

By examining Figs. 2-4, we gain a better perspective of the past and future expansion of the universe. We see that the most distance objects we can see today have a proper distance of 46 Glyr and in the future, the value will saturate at ~62 Glyr. By going through all of the derivations, calculations, and graphs, we have gained a better understanding the universe we can observe and why we can observe it.

6. Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Windhorst for clarifying discussions regarding integration near a singularity and numerous discussions about the meaning of cosmological terms and equations during and after class.

7. References
[1] Davis, T.M. and Lineweaver, Expanding confusion: common misconceptions of cosmological horizons and the superluminal expansion of the universe, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 21, 2004, pp. 97-109. [2] Lineweaver C.H., Davis, T.M., Misconceptions about the big bang, Scientific American, March 2005, pp. 36-45. [3] Longair, M. S., Galaxy Formation, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2008, pp. 211-221, 335-347. [4] Ryden, B., Introduction to Cosmology, SanFrancisco: Addison-Wesley, 2003, pp. 82-99.

8. Appendix
A. Derivation of as a function of a for use in numerical integration
A general expression for can be written as (A1) This is not handy to evaluate analytically nor numerically. We employ the useful identity = Since 1 1 1 .
/
/

(A2)

(A3) (A4)

This is the form of the equation we used to perform the numerical integrations. Note that at a=0, the denominator goes to zero, but the integral is still finite because the denominator goes as 1/x which converges as an integral. Care must be taken near the origin such that the numerical methods do not create problems. Note that a(t) can be analytically integrated for a matter-lambda universe, but the distance formula has an extra a(t) in the denominator which causes the analytical solution to get very messy, and it is best to integrate it numerically.
8