Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/iii/paper-41/2/i/solution

The term is Hubble friction in the equation for the density contrast. During expansion, , it damps the peculiar motion producing density growth. It therefore slows gravitational instability relative to the otherwise identical static model; it does not necessarily stop growth.
Multiplying by shows the mechanism without confusing it with microscopic dissipative friction:
When the self-gravity term is negligible, the expansion-weighted derivative of a passive density perturbation is conserved, so . Expansion also reduces and hence weakens the source on the right. A contracting background has and reverses the sign of this effect.

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