Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2004/iii/paper-67/2/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 67 2 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The regional mass density is , while the Einstein-de Sitter universe has . Substituting the parametric spherical collapse from part (a) yieldsAt spherical-collapse turnaround, , and henceFor an isolated uniform sphere, the Newtonian gravitational potential energy is . At spherical-collapse turnaround the coherent kinetic energy is zero, so conservation of energy fixes . At virial equilibrium, the virial theorem gives , hence . Equating these energies proves the virial radius from turnaround energy:This uses the same mass and gravitational structure coefficient before and after collapse and neglects boundary pressure, mass loss and external energy exchange.
If virial equilibrium is assigned to , the sphere's density is eight times its turnaround density, whereas the background mass density has decreased by four. ConsequentlyThe often quoted value is a density ratio; the density contrast defined as is smaller by one. This finite virialized estimate and the infinite cold-collapse contrast in part (b) describe different physical endpoints.
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