A study on the Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz scenario through quadrics of kinetic energy

Piotr P. Goldstein

Published 2024-11-12Version 1

A detailed description of the asymptotic behaviour in the Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz (BKL) scenario is presented through a simple geometric picture. The Lagrangian version of the dynamics governed by the BKL equations is described in terms of trajectories inside a conical subset of the corresponding space of the generalised velocities. The calculations confirm that the initial conditions of decreasing volume inevitably result in total collapse, while oscillations along paths reflecting from a hyperboloid, similar to Kasner's solutions, occur on the way. The exact solution, found in our previous work, proves to be the only one that shrinks to a point along a differentiable path. Therefore, its instability means that the collapse is always chaotic. The collapse of the universe along asymptotics of exact Kasner's solutions is proved to be impossible for solutions of the BKL equations.