On the maximum volume of collapsing structures

Abstract

In many cosmological models, including the $\Lambda$CDM concordance model, there exist a theoretical upper bounds on the size of collapsing structures. The most common formulations in the literature refer to a turnaround radius in spherical symmetry or a turnaround surface, defined as the zero-expansion boundary separating the outer Hubble flow from the inner flow of a collapsing fluid. In order to access a generic scenario, we propose an improvement of this cosmological test in terms of the maximum volume of the cosmological structures, which is equivalent to a zero-averaged expansion -- instead of the zero-local expansion. By combining the Lagrangian perturbations method and the scalar averaging of Einstein's equations, we obtain a maximum volume for a collapse model without any restricting symmetries. We compare this result with some exact, inhomogeneous solutions and discuss further potential developments.

13 pages, 2 figures, v.2, minor corrections, main results unchanged

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