Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2003 / iii / Paper 58 / 3 / b / Solution

Define the matter power spectrum by the Fourier transform conventionStatistical isotropy then givesFor the growing mode found above, write $P_{\delta }(k,\tau )={\tau }^4{P}_A(k)$. At cosmological horizon entry, ${\tau }_H\propto k^{-1}$, so the variance contribution per logarithmic interval is proportional to $k^3{k}^{-4}{P}_A(k)=P_A(k)/k$. Making it independent of $k$ requires $P_A(k)\propto k$. HenceThis is the Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum. Scale invariance applies at horizon entry, not to the unprocessed density variance on a common late-time slice. In the notation ${\delta }_{\mathbf{k}}\propto k^{n/2}{\tau }^2$, it means $n=1$, with random Fourier coefficients supplying the ensemble statistics.