For , set and choose the expanding branch of the Friedmann equation. Then
Separating variables and choosing cosmic time at the Big Bang gives
Thus the flat dust-and-vacuum expansion is
Setting gives the age of a flat matter-Lambda universe,
The two matter-vacuum age endpoint limits follow below.
Set and let denote the proper-time Hubble parameter. The Friedmann equation is the expansion constraint: density drives expansion, while spatial curvature and the cosmological constant contribute separately. The Friedmann acceleration equation shows that the active gravitational density is ; positive pressure gravitates, while positive vacuum energy accelerates expansion.
Subtracting the constraint from the acceleration equation gives . Differentiating the constraint gives . Eliminate to obtain
This cosmological continuity equation is local energy conservation. For a comoving volume , it is , the adiabatic first law: expansion does work against pressure.
Define the deceleration parameter , the critical density , and the cosmological density parameters and . The dust-plus-vacuum acceleration equation then gives . Dust conservation gives , while is constant. At the acceleration transition, , so
For spatial flatness and , the constraint today sets . Thus . Put , and . Then . Integrating from gives , hence the flat dust-and-vacuum expansion
For small , , the matter-dominated law. At late times, , approaching de Sitter spacetime. Negative spatial curvature adds a positive contribution to . This is subdominant to dust's at small and to the constant vacuum term at large , so it does not change either leading limit.
The model describes the transition from matter domination to the accelerated late-time expansion indicated by cosmological distance observations, with nearly flat geometry and vacuum-like dark energy. Its formal dust limit is not the actual earliest universe: radiation, neglected here, dominates then and gives .