Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 41 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Integrating the given expansion equation gives , with the integration constant fixed by . Thus the scale factor and Hubble parameter are and . The Newtonian derivation of the flat Friedmann equation gives , soUse the comoving coordinate and the density contrast . Linearized mass conservation, the peculiar-velocity Euler equation for fluid motion and the Poisson equation for the peculiar gravitational potential areDifferentiate the first equation, substitute the second and use the third. A Fourier component of comoving wavenumber obeysSince , the normalization is , as printed in the PDF. The resulting linear cosmological density perturbation equation isTo reduce it to a Bessel equation, put , and . As , multiplying the substituted equation by givesTaking makes the first two coefficients proportional to those in the Bessel equation, and the remaining constant is . HenceFor noninteger , the Bessel density modes of a polytropic expanding universe areThere is an exceptional case within the allowed interval: if is an integer, , so these are not two independent solutions. The full solution then uses , with the Bessel function of the second kind providing the missing branch. For example gives . A basis using is valid for every allowed exponent.
For early times, . The large-argument asymptotic expansion of the Bessel function of the first kind has oscillatory phase and envelope for order ; the Bessel function of the second kind has the same envelope. ThusThis decreases because . At late times , the leading powers are for noninteger order, giving and . The branch gives the same growing power in the integer case. Therefore a generic perturbation grows as ; an initial condition with zero growing-mode coefficient instead has the decaying mode.
To find the growth scale including its dependence on , set . The equation becomesSubstitute . The leading coefficient equation is . The pressure correction to a growing polytropic cosmological mode is consequentlySince and , the correction becomes small when is small compared with . The factor is between two and , giving the stated order-of-magnitude onset conditionFor a well-developed asymptotic growing mode, replace by . This is a Jeans instability interpretation: the physical acoustic frequency must be sufficiently low compared with the gravitational expansion scale, or equivalently the physical wavelength must be sufficiently long for self-gravity to overcome pressure support. It is an approximate condition for the dust-like growing branch, not an exact initial-condition-independent instant at which any perturbation begins increasing. The instantaneous sign change of the coefficient in the original equation instead occurs at .
Put in the Bessel density modes of a polytropic expanding universe equation. It becomes . Substituting gives . Since , the fractional pressure correction is small when . For , this is the order-of-magnitude condition . It describes approach to the dust-like growing branch, not an exact universal time at which every initial perturbation starts increasing. The instantaneous Jeans instability balance instead compares with .