Newtonian versus relativistic cosmology

Abstract

We show how the relativistic matter and velocity power spectra behave in different gauges. We construct a new gauge where both spectra coincide with Newtonian theory on all scales. However, in this gauge there are geometric quantities present which do not exist in Newtonian theory, for example the local variation of the Hubble parameter. Comparing this quantity to second-order Newtonian quantities, we find that Newtonian theory is inaccurate on scales larger than 10 Mpc. This stresses the importance of relativistic corrections to Newtonian cosmological $N$-body simulations on these scales.