Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-cosmology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/1/c/solution

The matter density parameter at general scale factor is
The reference to the definition of in the printed part points to the wrong equation number: the needed definition is the substitution in part (b). Write , so , , and
Expanding the matter growth equation as a function of scale factor first gives
Using and dividing by , we obtain
where these primes denote derivatives with respect to . For the proposed linear cosmological density perturbation ,
The left side of the differential equation, divided by , has numerator
over the common denominator . This proves the result directly. Also for every , so it is a decaying mode:
It is proportional to the Hubble parameter, an instance of the Hubble parameter as a solution of the dust growth equation.

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