Comoving number density 2026-10-06
Comoving number density is object count per comoving volume. With scale factor normalized to unity today, proper density is . A conserved population moving with homogeneous expansion has constant despite declining proper density. Formation, mergers or changing sample selection can make evolve.
Conserved cosmological relic abundance 2026-10-06
Cosmic stellar mass density 2026-10-06
The cosmic stellar mass density is the mass moment of a galaxy stellar mass function in a stated volume convention. With a comoving mass function it is mass per comoving volume, while proper density is larger by . Comparing it to a critical or matter density requires keeping the epoch and volume convention explicit.
Galaxy stellar mass function 2026-10-06
The galaxy stellar mass function counts galaxies per stellar-mass interval and volume, often using comoving volume. Its stellar-mass moment gives the cosmic stellar mass density, while its number moment counts galaxies only if the low-mass population is integrable or truncated. It differs from the initial mass function of individual stars.
Halo abundance mass-budget bound 2026-10-06
A population of distinct, nonoverlapping dark-matter halos cannot contain more total mass per comoving volume than the cosmic mean matter density. A narrow mass population therefore obeys . Do not sum subhalo masses and their inclusive host masses in the same bound, because that double-counts material. This check can reveal incompatible inferred absorption incidence, object size and halo-mass assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 61 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Integrate galactic stellar mass, rather than galaxy count, against the galaxy stellar mass function. With , the comoving cosmic stellar mass density, evaluated by the stellar mass density from a square-root exponential cutoff, isPut , so and . The integral is , givingThe supplied present mean matter density and imply . ThereforeThis is about of today's critical density, or of today's mean matter density, expressed per present comoving volume. The proper stellar density at is ; if comparing that proper density directly with today's critical density its ratio is . It must not be confused with the usual comoving-density comparison. The low-mass number integral diverges if extrapolated to zero mass, but the mass integral converges; real populations require a low-mass cutoff.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 310 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use units , and write for the Hubble parameter, with dots denoting cosmic time. Differentiating the Friedmann equation givesOn an interval where , use the Hubble parameter identity and the Friedmann acceleration equation to findSubstitution cancels the curvature term and gives the continuity equationThe cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation extends by continuity through a regular isolated turning point. Physically it states that the change of energy in a comoving volume is the negative of the pressure work: .
For separately conserved cosmological fluids, each component obeys this equation individually. A constant equation-of-state parameter therefore giveswhere the present scale factor is normalized to . Thus the component density laws areThe extra factor for radiation in cosmology is the cosmological redshift of each photon's energy; pressureless matter has only number dilution, while the specified dark energy is a cosmological constant.
The critical density at a given expansion rate is the total density that makes the spatial curvature vanish:These cosmological density parameters use the critical density at that same time. Put and . The Friedmann equation yieldsConsequently the fractional-density evolution, rather than just the component-density evolution, isIn particular . The simple powers of alone apply to , or to , not to the instantaneous cosmological density parameters. At a recollapse turning point , those instantaneous ratios are undefined even though the component densities remain finite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 310 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Consider a species in thermal equilibrium, with energy density and pressure depending on temperature and with vanishing chemical potential, as in the supplied thermodynamic relation. Put . The first law of thermodynamics givesSince ,The differential is therefore exact:After fixing the irrelevant additive entropy zero, the entropy density at zero chemical potential isMore precisely the first law leaves an additive constant in ; extensivity fixes that constant for the usual entropy-density normalization. A nonzero chemical potential would instead require , so the stated formula is not a universal identity for a decoupled massive species with conserved particle number.
For a reversible thermodynamic process that is an adiabatic process in a comoving volume, and the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation gives . Differentiating the extensive expression explicitly, or using the exact differential above, givesThis is cosmological entropy conservation for the closed equilibrium gas with no entropy-producing energy injection.
For radiation in cosmology, , so . Comparing and yields the coefficient ratioWhen all relativistic species share the same temperature and count, the familiar normalizations are and . More generally the energy and entropy effective counts can differ; the common here uses the assumptions stated in the question.