The Least Action Method, CDM and $\Omega$

Abstract

Peebles has suggested an interesting method to trace back in time positions of galaxies called the least action method. This method applied on the Local Group galaxies seems to indicate that we live in an $\Omega \approx 0.1$ Universe. We have studied a CDM N-body simulation with $\Omega =0.2$ and $H=50km{s}^{-1}/Mpc$ and compare trajectories traced back from the Least Action Principle and the center of mass of the particle forming CDM halos. We show that the agreement between these set of trajectories is at best qualitative. We also show that the line of sight peculiar velocities are underestimated. This discrepancy is due to orphans, CDM particles which do not end up in halos. By varying the density parameter $\Omega$ in the least action principle we show that using this method we would underestimate the density of the Universe by a factor of 4-5.

8 pages, Plain Tex, 3 figures

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