Insert the component-density laws into the Friedmann equation, using and . Multiplying by gives
The radiation in cosmology and pressureless matter contributions add; the printed first formula has lost the plus sign between them. In the Friedmann acceleration equation, , so
Evaluating the first equation today gives .
Now remove dark energy and assume a positive pressureless matter or radiation in cosmology density, starting on an expanding branch. Let . It decreases from infinity to zero, and , while . This immediately distinguishes all three cases of spatial curvature of an FLRW universe.
The early small- solution has if radiation in cosmology is present, and for pressureless matter alone. The figure isolates the effect of curvature in three matter-only examples, rather than comparing models with the same present density parameters.
Figure 1.
Matter-only scale-factor evolution: closed recollapse, flat power-law expansion, and open expansion tending to a constant speed.