Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/iii/paper-72/1/ii/solution

Let be the well-mixed gas-phase metallicity, measured as a metal mass fraction. Removing gas into stars takes metals at rate ; prompt return restores existing metals at rate , together with newly synthesized metals at rate . Thus the closed-box model of galactic chemical evolution has metal budget
Expand the left side and use . The terms proportional to existing gas-phase metallicity cancel, leaving
Since , initially pristine gas obeys
The stellar yield here is per permanently locked mass, so inserting another factor into would double-count recycling. The approximation treats metals as a trace constituent and ignores finite stellar-return delays. Apply it while ; the formal unlimited linear growth is not a physical prediction for almost entirely metallic gas.

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