We perform a covariant 1 þ 3 split of the Newton-Cartan equations. The resulting 3-dimensional system of equations, called the 1 þ 3-Newton-Cartan equations, is structurally equivalent to the 1 þ 3-Einstein equations. In particular it features the momentum constraint, and a choice of adapted coordinates corresponds to a choice of shift vector. We show that these equations reduce to the classical Newton equations without the need for special Galilean coordinates. The solutions to the 1 þ 3-Newton-Cartan equations are equivalent to the solutions of the classical Newton equations if space is assumed to be compact or if fall-off conditions at infinity are assumed. We then show that space expansion arises as a fundamental field in Newton-Cartan theory, and not by construction as in the classical formulation of Newtonian cosmology. We recover the Buchert-Ehlers theorem for the general expansion law in Newtonian cosmology.

In inhomogeneous cosmology, restricting attention to an irrotational dust matter model, backreaction arises in terms of the deviation of the averaged spatial scalar curvature from a constant-curvature model on some averaging domain D, W D , and the kinematical backreaction Q D . These backreaction variables can be modeled as an effective scalar field, called the 'morphon field'. The general cosmological equations still need a closure condition to be solved. A simple example is the class of scaling solutions where W D and Q D are assumed to follow a power law of the volume scale factor a D . But while they can describe models of quintessence, these and other models still assume the existence of dark matter in addition to the known sources. Going beyond scaling solutions by using a model for structure formation that we argue is reasonably generic, we investigate the correspondence between the morphon field and fundamental scalar field dark matter models, in order to describe dark matter as an effective phenomenon arising from kinematical backreaction and the averaged spatial curvature of the inhomogeneous Universe. While we find significant differences with those fundamental models, our main result is that the energy budget on typical collapsing domains is provided by curvature and matter in equal parts already around the turn-around time, leading to curvature dominance thereafter and increasing to a curvature contribution of 3/4 of the energy budget at the onset of virialization. Kinematical backreaction is subdominant at early stages, but its importance rises quickly after turn-around and dominates the curvature contribution in the final phase of the collapse. We conclude that backreaction can indeed mimic dark matter (in the energy budget) during the collapse phase of megaparsec-scale structures.