Relativistic Fractal Cosmologies

Abstract

This article reviews an approach for constructing a simple relativistic fractal cosmology whose main aim is to model the observed inhomogeneities of the distribution of galaxies by means of the Lemaitre-Tolman solution of Einstein's field equations for spherically symmetric dust in comoving coordinates. This model is based on earlier works developed by L. Pietronero and J.R. Wertz on Newtonian cosmology, whose main points are discussed. Observational relations in this spacetime are presented, together with a strategy for finding numerical solutions which approximate an averaged and smoothed out single fractal structure in the past light cone. Such fractal solutions are shown, with one of them being in agreement with some basic observational constraints, including the decay of the average density with the distance as a power law (the de Vaucouleurs' density power law) and the fractal dimension in the range 1