Increase the density at the initial radius by a small fraction , maintaining the string equation of state. Then and the Friedmann equation fixes
Because , the exact expanding and contracting branches are
The expanding branch grows indefinitely; the contracting branch reaches zero scale factor after . Thus a positive density-normalization perturbation destroys staticity. The departure speed is proportional to , reflecting the fact that the Friedmann constraint is quadratic in the velocity at the static point. This is another aspect of homogeneous stability of a static cosmic-string universe.
First perturb the radius consistently with the conserved string normalization. If while stays at its static value, the density becomes
The Friedmann equation still has an exact cancellation between the string and curvature terms, and the Friedmann acceleration equation still vanishes. Thus
The homogeneous stability of a static cosmic-string universe is neutral in this restricted sense: there is no restoring force and no exponentially growing displacement. Holding the density fixed while changing the radius would instead change and would not be this pure displacement perturbation.
If the initial density is decreased by at the same radius, the string-only Friedmann equation would require
which has no real solution. It is not an allowed initial perturbation of a closed string-only universe at fixed curvature normalization. In particular, it should not be interpreted as an oscillating or automatically recollapsing solution.
Likewise, increasing the density while keeping both and fixed violates the constraint; the admissible velocity is the one obtained above. The homogeneous stability of a static cosmic-string universe must always be assessed using both the acceleration equation and the Friedmann constraint. Allowing extra components or changing the spatial curvature would define a different perturbation problem.