Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/ii/paper-4/10d/a/solution

The physical Jeans length is the wavelength for which pressure and gravity balance:
The physical wavelength of the comoving mode is . Modes with wavelength larger than have a gravitationally destabilizing coefficient and can grow; shorter wavelengths are pressure-supported and oscillate, with expansion also damping the motion. A time-dependent background makes the exact growth history depend on the epoch, not just an instantaneous sign. For pressureless matter the Jeans length vanishes.

New to topics? Read the docs here!