Wednesday, 8 May 2019

general relativity - Value of the Hubble parameter over time


There is something I don't understand about the Hubble parameter $H$, as it seems to clump two concepts together that I can't quite unify in my head. On the one side, we have


$$V = D H$$


which means that for a given distance $D$, there is a certain amount of new space created over time - and $H$ is simply the factor that makes this relationship work. So, for example, say we have two points 1 Mpc apart, this would mean they recede at about 70 km/s away from each other (given our current approximation of $H$).


Now the thing I can't wrap my head around is that


$$T =\frac{1}{ H}$$


is also the age of the universe. Contrary to claims made on, say, Wikipedia this means that $H$ cannot possibly have been a constant throughout the past 13 billion years, because mathematically $1/H$ means that $H$ must be continually shrinking as the universe ages.


So if $H$ did start out as some huge value and is now shrinking over time, doesn't this mean the expansion of the universe is slowing down? Because if $H$ is shrinking, I'll get a lower value of $V$ today than I'll get tomorrow. Shouldn't the notation then be more like



$$V = DH(t)$$


So which one is it? If $1/H$ is simply the solution for $D=0$, how can we use it as the expansion-velocity-per-unit-of-distance at the same time? What's worse, how can literature say $H$ has probably been more or less constant forever and simultaneously assert that $1/H$ is the current age of the universe? What am I missing?




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