Write , take a constant barotropic equation-of-state parameter , and keep first-order terms in , and . In synchronous gauge, the inverse metric is , , . The normalization gives and . Substitution in the perfect fluid stress tensor gives the linear perfect-fluid stress tensor in synchronous gauge:
In the first component the pressure contributions cancel; in the last, the velocity product is second order and the inverse-metric perturbation supplies the minus sign.
Use projections of stress-energy conservation, , to retain all connection terms efficiently. Let be the conformal Hubble parameter and . Since , the fluid expansion is
The energy projection is . Its background is . Expanding and subtracting that background leaves the synchronous perfect-fluid density equation
For momentum, the spatial projection is . The given connections yield at first order. The pressure projection contains both and ; retaining the latter is essential. With and , division by gives the Cosmological Euler equation in synchronous gauge,
For Fourier convention , these results are
The velocity equation assumes nonzero enthalpy , so a cosmological constant with is not a propagating fluid-velocity case. A time-dependent would also introduce additional terms and is not the constant-barotropic system used here.