Jeans length (${\lambda }_J=c_s\sqrt{\pi /(G\rho )}$)

With physical wavelength $2\pi /k$, the Jeans length is $2\pi /k_J$, where the Jeans wavenumber is $\sqrt{4\pi G\rho }/c_s$. Linear pressure support dominates gravity below this length, whereas longer wavelengths can grow. In an expanding background the growth also depends on the Hubble damping term, so the static threshold does not by itself give the time dependence.

The physical Jeans length is ${\ell }_J=c_s\sqrt{\pi /(G{\rho }_0)}$. A pressureless uniform sphere of initial density ${\rho }_0$ has free-fall time of a uniform sphere $t_{\mathrm{ff}}=\sqrt{3\pi /(32G{\rho }_0)}$, giving the title relation. Thus a full-wavelength sound-crossing time and this exact free-fall convention agree in scaling, not numerical value. Using the scale $k_J^{-1}$ instead gives $1/(c_s{k}_J)=1/\sqrt{4\pi G{\rho }_0}$, the inverse long-wave static Jeans growth-rate spectrum limit. At the threshold itself pressure balances gravity and the net growth rate vanishes; the pressureless free-fall time must not be confused with that marginal mode's infinite growth time.

When baryons are a small fraction of the gravitating matter, their perturbation is forced by the cold dark matter potential. Comparing pressure frequency $c_s^2{k}^2$ with $4\pi G{a}^2{\bar{\rho }}_C$ yields the scale ${\lambda }_J=c_s\sqrt{\pi /(G{\bar{\rho }}_C)}$ for following the growing matter mode. It is not an absolute statement that every sub-Jeans baryon perturbation is zero or cannot be forced: a slowly varying response is ${\delta }_B\simeq (k_J^2/k^2){\delta }_C$. In the pressureless limit the difference from CDM is a constant plus a decaying mode during matter domination, so baryons catch up in relative amplitude.