We study linear perturbations to a Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) background spacetime. Studying the transformation behaviour of the perturbations under gauge transformations, we construct gauge invariant quantities. We show, using the perturbed energy conservation equation, that there are conserved quantities in LTB, in particular a spatial metric trace perturbation, ζSMTP, which is conserved on all scales. We then briefly extend our discussion to the Lemaître spacetime, and construct gauge-invariant perturbations in this extension of LTB spacetime.
I. INTRODUCTIONConserved quantities are useful tools with a wide range of applications in cosmology. In particular, they allow us to relate early and late times in a cosmological model, without explicitly having to solve the evolution equations, either exactly or taking advantage of some limiting behaviour. These quantities have been studied extensively within the context of cosmological perturbation theory, and usually applied to a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker(FRW) background spacetime.Using metric based cosmological perturbation theory [1, 2], we can readily construct gauge-invariant quantities which are also conserved, that is constant in time (see e.g. Ref.[3] for early work on this topic). In a FRW background spacetime, ζ, the curvature perturbation on uniform density hypersurfaces, is conserved on large scales for adiabatic fluids. To show that ζ is conserved and under what conditions, we only need the conservation of energy [4]. This was first shown to work for fluids at linear order, but it holds also at second order in the perturbations, and in the fully non-linear case, usually referred to as the δN formalism [4-6] 1 .Instead of, or in addition to, cosmological perturbation theory, we can also use other approximation schemes to deal with the non-linearity of the Einstein equations. In particular gradient expansion schemes have proven to be useful in the context of conserved quantities, again with the main focus on FRW spacetimes [6][7][8][9]. But conserved quantities have also been studied for spacetimes other than FRW, such as braneworld models (see e.g. Ref.[10], and anisotropic spacetime (e.g. Ref. [11]).The Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) spacetime [12] is a more general solution to Einstein's field equations than the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model. While LTB is invariant under rotations, FRW is rotation and translations invariant, and hence has homogeneous and isotropic, maximally symmetric spatial sections [13].Recent research into LTB cosmology has been motivated by seeking an alternative explanation for the late time accelerated expansion of the universe, as indicated by e.g. SNIa observations [14]. Inhomogeneous cosmologies, including LTB, have been suggested as such an alternative explanation of these observations (see e.g. Refs. [15,16]). Other observations such as galaxy surveys, large scale structure surveys, the CMB and indeed any redshift dependent observations (see for example Refs. [17], [18], [19]) are usually interpreted assuming a flat FR...