Following the discussion of some general properties and analytical formulae for cosmological models with non-zero cosmological constant, we show how the elliptic integrals for comoving distance and light travel time as function of redshift can be expressed through Legendre integrals of the first and third kind, for which standard implementations are readily available. Observational properties are then illustrated for selected but typical models using the previously derived formulae.Key words: cosmology -elliptic integrals -cosmological constant A A A subject classification: 161
1.
I n t r o d u c t i o nThe 'standard model' of cosmology assumes a zero cosmological constant. There are controversial assessments on this theme; the fact that constraints for the cosmological constant provided by particle physics are weak in cosmological terms makes it easy to introduce it, whenever another free parameter seems to be required. Critics of this effect tend to discard it from their considerations completely. Also, the exclusion of the cosmological constant and related model parameters (Sahni et al. 1992) from simulations is often due to the computational difficulties they pose.Here we give a detailed outline of the mathematical transformations involved in expressing cosmological dependencies through standard elliptic integrals and thus provide a basis to evaluate the observational effects of a particular value of the cosmological constant. Previous papers on the subject usually failed to present this process in a way which is reproducible by non-experts and/or lacked completeness: Kaufman and Schiicking (1971), Kaufman (1971), Edwards (1972, Coquereaux and Grossmann (1982), Dabrowski and Stelmach (1986a), Dabrowski and Stelmach (1986b).T h e work described in this paper is part of the Muenster Redshift Project (MRSP) and is currently being extended to include more general models as described, e.g. by Sahni et al. (1992).
2.
Cosmic dynamicsFirst we introduce the cosmological parameters and equations. More in-depth discussions of relativistic cosmology can be found in standard books by Weinberg (1972), Rindler (1977), Harrison (1981. Reviews covering the cosmological constant are given by Felten (1986) and, in more detail, by Weinberg (1989).Because of the equivalence of space and time, definitions of quantities with the same name often differ by the factor velocity of light. More confusing is the fact t h a t the same quantities are sometimes referred t o by different names. By Coquereaux and Grossmann (1982), e.g., in an extensive paper on cosmology with h-term, the quantity introduced by us as comoving distance x is named conformal time. T h e time thus defined and the light travel time t discussed later can not easily be transformed into each other. T h e notation used in this work follows recent publications.T h e assumption of homogeneity and isotropy of the universe leads to a metric, which is invariant and independent of direction in all points of space and varies with time in the same way everywhere. This leads t...