Abstract

One focus of research in cosmology regards the growth of structure in the universe: how we end up with stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, and large scale structure in a universe that appears homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. Using cosmological perturbation theory, we investigate the evolution of density and velocity perturbations corresponding to a universe that is slowly contracting (Ijjas and Steinhardt), testing with and comparing different values for the equation-of-state parameter. This allows for the comparison of the growth of large scale structure in scenarios including a matter-dominated expanding universe, a dark energy-dominated expanding universe, and now, an ekpyrotic scalar field-dominated contracting universe. Further, we consider the timescales on which deviations from ΛCDM in favor of the model considered could become relevant.

Thesis Completion

2023

Semester

Fall

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Cooney, James

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Physics

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

12-15-2023

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