Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 55 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use natural units and conformal time . The conformal Hubble parameter is . For the barotropic equation of state , the Friedmann acceleration equation givesThe Friedmann equation gives . Hence the constant-equation-of-state conformal Riccati equation isFor , separation and integration of this Riccati equation yield, after choosing the origin of conformal time,The open positive-energy density branch uses the hyperbolic cotangent, rather than the cotangent. Integrating giveswhere the positive constants are fixed by the energy density normalization. These formulas apply on branches where the bases are positive. For , take the Big Bang at . The cosmic time is thenThe integrals also give the general answer after selecting a suitable reference time when a finite Big Bang endpoint does not exist. The exceptional coasting fluid has , so is constant: and . If , instead and . A flat fluid with is the constant-density de Sitter spacetime case, for which the flat time integral is logarithmic.
During matter domination, and . Absorbing numerical factors into separate positive constants gives the closed matter-dominated Friedmann solution, the flat Einstein-de Sitter universe and the open matter-dominated Friedmann solution:To compare the age of a dust universe without a cosmological constant, specify the normalization. At fixed present Hubble parameter , with and present matter cosmological density parameter , the Friedmann equation givesThe integrand decreases strictly with for . Therefore age ordering of dust universes at fixed Hubble parameter gives, on the expanding branches,The final bound is approached by the empty Milne universe. This compares models with the same ; fixing instead the present scale factor and energy density gives a different comparison.
