Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/ii/paper-4/9b/solution

The Flatness problem is that the observed cosmological density parameter is close to , although in an ordinary decelerating universe any departure from one grows with time. Extrapolation backward therefore requires implausibly precise early cancellation of the curvature term.
The cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation is
Consequently
For an expanding universe . If
then increases. The Friedmann equation implies
It therefore decreases during this period, driving toward one. By the Friedmann acceleration equation, the same condition gives when the cosmological constant is included in the effective fluid. This is the inflationary solution of the flatness problem.
For the scalar field, the slow-roll approximation means
The equations reduce to
Taking the positive-field branch gives , and therefore
With ,
Now integrate :
Thus the quadratic-potential slow-roll solution is
Finally,
so equivalently

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