Robertson – Walker Metric in (2 + 1) – Dimensions: The 2 – D Coordinate Subspaces and Their Curvature
Samuel Amoh Gyampoh *
Department of Mathematics and ICT, St. Monica’s College of Education, Mampong – Ashanti, Ghana.
Frank Kwarteng Nkrumah
Department of Mathematics and ICT, Mampong Technical College of Education, Mampong – Ashanti, Ghana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In this paper, we will first construct a Robertson – Walker like metric in (2 + 1) – dimensional space. The easiest way of doing this is to consider a 2-dimensional coordinate space as a space embedded in a 3-dimensional hypersurface. The curvature of each surface is determined using the spatial part of the Robertson – Walker like metric constructed. Our main goal is to find out if the Robertson – Walker like metric in (2 + 1) – dimensional space can be used as a prototype model to study Robertson – Walker in (3 + 1) dimensions since calculations involved in higher dimensions are tedious.
Keywords: Robertson – Walker metric, curvature, hypersurface, spacetime, Christoffel symbols, Riemann curvature, Gaussian curvature.