Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-astrophysics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/3/b/solution

For the shifted density perturbation in Newtonian gauge, set . The radiation continuity equation gives , and its Euler equation gives
Writing , the relativistic constraint becomes
Eliminating the potential therefore gives
This has the requested . Well inside the sound horizon, , the potential contribution is suppressed relative to the density term and . Thus
These are sound waves: radiation-pressure gradients restore a compression, while inertia carries the fluid through equilibrium. The perfect-fluid approximation neglects diffusion damping and freely streaming species' anisotropic stress. It gives the high-frequency limiting oscillations, not a claim that every radiation-era perturbation is an undriven sinusoid at horizon entry.

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