Expanding clusters of galaxies as components of a relativistic hierarchical cosmology

Abstract

Approximate metries for clusters embedded in an expanding Robertson/Walker background (Section 1) indicate that in general clusters of galaxies cannot remain uninfluenced by the expansion. The potential for an expanding cluster (Section 2) is seen to suggest that clusters as presently observed are not in static equilibrium and that the missing mass problem can be elucidated via use of the virial theorem (Section 3) given certain density conditions in compact clusters. Non-compact clusters can be treated similarly, and it is found that the behaviour of a low-density cluster is equivalent to that of a domain of a Friedmann (k=0) model Universe (Section 4). The treatment of compact clusters (Section 5) is based on approximate metrics for clusters embedded in a Robertson/Walker background. These comparisons lead to information on the evolution of non-compact clusters and compact clusters (Section 7), and to observable consequences that seem to be borne out successfully (Section 8). Data on clusters themselves tend to show that there exists an expanding supercluster and/ or that Λ>0 (Section 9). Several tests of the hypothesis of expansion of clusters (Section 10) are proposed.