Let and at last scattering. For random oscillator amplitudes, define spectra and cross-spectrum using the same Fourier normalization as the density spectrum. Averaging the solution's squared modulus gives
Consequently the intrinsic-temperature source has variance spectrum . A common acoustic phase is necessary for pronounced peaks in the variance. Equal independent sine/cosine amplitudes would erase them. A regular growing adiabatic mode begins with negligible velocity outside the sound horizon and selects approximately the cosine phase, , preserving a sequence. This illustrates coherent initial phases are needed for acoustic variance peaks.
From continuity, . Ignoring the small damping correction in this velocity relation, the coherent cosine solution gives
The Doppler CMB anisotropy source therefore has directional variance , where . Its velocity maxima lie between density maxima: compression and bulk motion are a quarter acoustic period apart.
Angular projection must also be included. Let , assume a thin last-scattering surface, and choose the emission phase . The coherent intrinsic-plus-Doppler radial response is proportional to
The derivative follows from and the velocity sign above. A reversed line-of-sight convention reverses the corresponding Doppler sign consistently. The CMB angular power spectrum is in this simplified model. Squaring the combined response keeps its correlated density–velocity cross term; adding two independent angular powers would discard that correlation. The derivative Bessel projection also spreads the Doppler contribution differently from the density contribution.
The sound horizon here is . Intrinsic acoustic extrema occur near , mapping roughly to , with interleaved velocity extrema and projection broadening. Cosmic microwave background diffusion damping suppresses both contributions exponentially at , or multipoles . Modes outside the sound horizon have no completed acoustic oscillation.
The metric integral represents gravitational redshift, including contributions that in another gauge are separated into endpoint Sachs-Wolfe effects and Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effects. It is not correct to call the entire synchronous metric integral only a late-time integrated effect. Large-scale metric/curvature fluctuations remain important where photon pressure cannot redistribute matter causally and produce the broad large-angle signal rather than just the pressure-oscillation sequence. Potential evolution during radiation-to-matter transition also drives and shifts acoustic amplitudes near horizon entry; late accelerating-era evolution adds a large-angle integrated signal. These effects are excluded by the oscillator's instruction to ignore metric perturbations. Even if the Newtonian-gauge potential is constant in matter domination, synchronous need not vanish, and the complete observable requires the consistent density, velocity and metric combination.