Deviation of Geodesics in FLRW Spacetime Geometries

Abstract

The geodesic deviation equation (`GDE') provides an elegant tool to investigate the timelike, null and spacelike structure of spacetime geometries. Here we employ the GDE to review these structures within the Friedmann--Lema\^{\i}tre--Robertson--Walker (`FLRW') models, where we assume the sources to be given by a non-interacting mixture of incoherent matter and radiation, and we also take a non-zero cosmological constant into account. For each causal case we present examples of solutions to the GDE and we discuss the interpretation of the related first integrals. The de Sitter spacetime geometry is treated separately.