Visual Horizons in World-Models

Abstract

This paper seeks to effect a unification and generalization of various particular results on visual horizons scattered in the literature. A horizon is here defined as a frontier between things observable and things unobservable. Two quite different types of horizon exist which are here termed event-horizons and particle-horizons. These are discussed in detail and illustrated by examples and diagrams. The examples include well-known model-universes which exhibit one or the other type of horizon, both types at once, or no horizon. Proper distance and cosmic time are adopted as the main variables, and the analysis is based on the Robertson–Walker form of the line element and therefore applies to all cosmological theories using a homogeneous and isotropic substratum.