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An initially overdense spherical region first expands approximately with the background, but its self-gravity slows it more strongly. It reaches turnaround of spherical collapse at its maximum radius, recollapses, and forms a bound approximately stationary object when infall energy is redistributed into random motions. An exactly cold, uniform pressureless solution would instead collapse to zero radius; virialization replaces that formal endpoint.

For fixed mass $M$ and no cosmological constant, integrate $\ddot{R}=-GM/R^2$ for a bound shell. Its specific energy can be written $\epsilon =-GM/(2A)$, and the cycloidal parametrization isSubstitution in ${\dot{R}}^2/2-GM/R=\epsilon$ verifies this parametrization. At $\theta =\pi$, $R_{\mathrm{ta}}=2A$ and $t_{\mathrm{ta}}=\pi B$; formal collapse occurs at $\theta =2\pi$, so $t_{\mathrm{coll}}=2t_{\mathrm{ta}}$.

For a uniform sphere, $W=-3G{M}^2/(5R)$. At turnaround the coherent kinetic energy vanishes, so $E=W_{\mathrm{ta}}$. At the final equilibrium, the virial theorem gives $2T_{\mathrm{vir}}+W_{\mathrm{vir}}=0$, whence $E=W_{\mathrm{vir}}/2$. Conservation of energy therefore impliesThis virial radius from turnaround energy assumes conserved mass and energy, negligible surface-pressure/tidal terms, and the same gravitational profile coefficient. The sketch's settling segment is qualitative; the cycloid is the exact pre-virialization cold model, not a dissipative relaxation solution.

To compare with the cosmological density, use $\bar{\rho }(t)=1/(6\pi G{t}^2)$ in an Einstein-de Sitter universe. The turnaround sphere hasSince the background density falls by four between $t_{\mathrm{ta}}$ and $t_{\mathrm{coll}}$, the Einstein-de Sitter virial overdensity isFinally $\bar{\rho }(z)={\rho }_0(1+z{)}^3$, so assigning the nominal collapse redshift givesThe density ratio eight compares the same object's physical densities at turnaround and virialization; $18{\pi }^2$ compares its final density with the background at the later collapse epoch.