Stress effects in structure formation - art. no. 103503

Residual velocity dispersion in cold dark matter induces stresses which lea d to effects that are absent in the idealized dust model. A previous Newton ian analysis showed how this approach can provide a theoretical foundation for the phenomenological adhesion model. We develop a relativistic kinetic theory generalization which also incorporates the anisotropic velocity disp ersion that will typically be present. In addition to density perturbations , we consider the rotational and shape distortion properties of clustering. These quantities together characterize the linear development of density i nhomogeneity and we find exact solutions for their evolution. As expected, the corrections are small and arise only in the decaying modes, but their e ffect is interesting. One of the modes for density perturbations decays les s rapidly than the standard decaying mode. The new rotational mode generate s precession of the axis of rotation. The new shape modes produce additiona l distortion that persists during the subsequent (linear) evolution, despit e the rapid decay of the terms that caused it. [S0556-2821(99)02220-1].