Geodesic observers in cosmology are revisited. The coordinates based on freely falling observers introduced by Gautreau in de Sitter and Einstein-de Sitter spaces (and, previously, by Gautreau and Hoffmann in Schwarzschild space) are extended to general FLRW universes. We identify situations in which the relation between geodesic and comoving coordinates can be expressed explicitly in terms of elementary functions. In general, geodesic coordinates in cosmology turn out to be rather cumbersome and limited to the region below the apparent horizon.

We revisit the analogy between a minimally coupled scalar field in general relativity and a perfect fluid, correcting previous identifications of effective temperature and chemical potential. This provides a useful complementary picture for the first-order thermodynamics of scalar-tensor gravity, paving the way for the Einstein frame formulation (which eluded previous attempts) and raises interesting questions to further develop the analogy.

No abstract

We revisit the analogy between a minimally coupled scalar field in general relativity and a perfect fluid, correcting previous identifications of effective temperature and chemical potential. This provides a useful complementary picture for the first-order thermodynamics of scalar-tensor gravity, paving the way for the Einstein frame formulation (which eluded previous attempts) and raises interesting questions to further develop the analogy.

No abstract