Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 41 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Integrating the given expansion equation gives , with the integration constant fixed by . Thus the scale factor and Hubble parameter are and . The Newtonian derivation of the flat Friedmann equation gives , soUse the comoving coordinate and the density contrast . Linearized mass conservation, the peculiar-velocity Euler equation for fluid motion and the Poisson equation for the peculiar gravitational potential areDifferentiate the first equation, substitute the second and use the third. A Fourier component of comoving wavenumber obeysSince , the normalization is , as printed in the PDF. The resulting linear cosmological density perturbation equation isTo reduce it to a Bessel equation, put , and . As , multiplying the substituted equation by givesTaking makes the first two coefficients proportional to those in the Bessel equation, and the remaining constant is . HenceFor noninteger , the Bessel density modes of a polytropic expanding universe areThere is an exceptional case within the allowed interval: if is an integer, , so these are not two independent solutions. The full solution then uses , with the Bessel function of the second kind providing the missing branch. For example gives . A basis using is valid for every allowed exponent.
For early times, . The large-argument asymptotic expansion of the Bessel function of the first kind has oscillatory phase and envelope for order ; the Bessel function of the second kind has the same envelope. ThusThis decreases because . At late times , the leading powers are for noninteger order, giving and . The branch gives the same growing power in the integer case. Therefore a generic perturbation grows as ; an initial condition with zero growing-mode coefficient instead has the decaying mode.
To find the growth scale including its dependence on , set . The equation becomesSubstitute . The leading coefficient equation is . The pressure correction to a growing polytropic cosmological mode is consequentlySince and , the correction becomes small when is small compared with . The factor is between two and , giving the stated order-of-magnitude onset conditionFor a well-developed asymptotic growing mode, replace by . This is a Jeans instability interpretation: the physical acoustic frequency must be sufficiently low compared with the gravitational expansion scale, or equivalently the physical wavelength must be sufficiently long for self-gravity to overcome pressure support. It is an approximate condition for the dust-like growing branch, not an exact initial-condition-independent instant at which any perturbation begins increasing. The instantaneous sign change of the coefficient in the original equation instead occurs at .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 74 1 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Apply the stationary phase method to the real part of the exponential integral for the Bessel function of the first kind. With fixed, use oscillatory phase and oscillatory integral amplitude . The unique stationary point is , with second derivative . Its contribution isThe leading endpoint terms of the exponential integral are imaginary and do not contribute to its real part. Hence the large-argument asymptotic expansion of the Bessel function of the first kind isThis is an additive asymptotic formula: a relative ratio is inappropriate at zeros of the leading cosine. The envelope decreases like while the oscillation frequency approaches one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 30A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
PutThe two endpoints and both contribute. Near , set . ThenExpanding the last amplitude in powers of and applying the Complex Watson lemma after rotating onto a decaying endpoint ray gives one exponential series. Repeating at gives the other. After multiplication by the prefactor in the integral representation, the two endpoint contributions combine aswhereSeparating the even and odd powers gives the large-argument asymptotic expansion of the Bessel function of the first kind:Its first terms areFor fixed , the expansion is uniform in every closed sectorwith . The exclusion of the negative real axis fixes the branch of and stays away from its Stokes boundary.