Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2005 / ii / Paper 4 / 10D / a

The physical Jeans length is the wavelength for which pressure and gravity balance:The physical wavelength of the comoving mode is $2\pi a/k$. Modes with wavelength larger than ${\lambda }_J$ have a gravitationally destabilizing coefficient and can grow; shorter wavelengths are pressure-supported and oscillate, with expansion also damping the motion. A time-dependent background makes the exact growth history depend on the epoch, not just an instantaneous sign. For pressureless matter the Jeans length vanishes.