Generalized geodesic deviation in de Sitter spacetime

Abstract: The geodesic deviation equation (GDE) describes the tendency of objects to accelerate towards or away from each other due to spacetime curvature. The GDE assumes that nearby geodesics have a small rate of separation, which is formally treated as the same order in smallness as the separation itself. This assumption is discussed in various papers, but is typically not recognized in textbooks. Relaxing this assumption leads to the generalized geodesic deviation equation (GGDE). We demonstrate the distinction between the GDE and the GGDE by computing the relative acceleration between timelike geodesics in two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. We do this by considering a fiducial geodesic and a secondary geodesic (both timelike) that cross with nonzero speed. These geodesics are spanned by a spacelike geodesic, whose tangent evaluated at the fiducial geodesic defines the separation. The second derivative of the separation describes the relative acceleration between the fiducial and secondary geodesics. Near the crossing point, where the separation between the timelike geodesics is small but their rates of separation can be large, we show that the GGDE holds but the GDE fails to apply.