Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / iii / Paper 55 / 4

Let $D(0)=1$. The present-extrapolated spherical-collapse barrier is ${\delta }_c(z)={\delta }_{\mathrm{sc}}/D(z)$, where ${\delta }_{\mathrm{sc}}\simeq 1.686$ is the linear contrast extrapolated to spherical collapse in a matter-dominated universe. It is not the nonlinear interior overdensity $18{\pi }^2$. The cosmological mass variance ${\sigma }^2(M,0)$ is the variance of the present-extrapolated linear density contrast smoothed over a mass $M$. It is not the variance of already virialized halo densities.

For a fixed-shape smoothing filter and $P(k)=P_0{k}^n$, rescale the variance integral with $x=kR$:Thus $\sigma (M,0)=S{M}^{-q}$, with $q=(n+3)/6$ and $S$ a normalization carrying the appropriate mass units. For a real-space top-hat filter, convergence requires $-3<n<1$; a spectrum outside this interval needs physical cutoffs and does not have this unrestricted scale-free result.

If $n(M,z)dM$ counts halos per comoving volume, the Press-Schechter halo mass function follows by differentiating the cumulative mass fraction and converting mass fraction to number:The minus sign is needed because the cumulative fraction decreases with $M$. To match the printed exponential coefficient exactly, define $M_{\ast }(z)$ byThis peak-height calibration from an exponential mass-function cutoff differs from the also-common convention $\nu (M_{\ast })=1$. Here $\nu =\sqrt{2}(M/M_{\ast }{)}^q$, and consequentlyEquivalently $A=\sqrt{2/\pi }q{\bar{\rho }}_{m,0}{\delta }_c/S$. The scale-free halo cutoff normalization therefore evolves with $z$; the displayed $A$ is not a redshift-independent universal constant. For physical number density, replace ${\bar{\rho }}_{m,0}$ by ${\bar{\rho }}_m(z)$ instead. Since $M_{\ast }=(\sqrt{2}S/{\delta }_c{)}^{1/q}$, it grows as $D^{6/(n+3)}$; in matter domination it is proportional to $(1+z{)}^{-6/(n+3)}$. At the collapse epoch itself, $\sigma (M_{\ast },z)={\delta }_{\mathrm{sc}}/\sqrt{2}$.

The prescribed photon budget requires a collapsed mass fraction $f_{\mathrm{coll}}=3/3000=10^{-3}$, assuming baryons trace the collapsed mass fraction and using the supplied effective photon yield. No extra photon-escape or recombination correction should be counted on top of this stipulated budget.

For spectral slope $n=-2$, $q=1/6$. The mass-scale measurement givesBoth relevant epochs are matter-dominated, so the linear growth factor ratio is $D(z)/D(3)=4/(1+z)$, independent of any present-day normalization convention. Thus $\sigma (M_{\min },z)=4/(1+z)$. The Press-Schechter formalism givesUsing the supplied inverse value,This is the photon-budget reionization threshold in the specified toy model, not a measurement of the full astrophysical reionization history.

To estimate the characteristic mass, use the non-dissipative spherical-collapse model result ${\Delta }_{\mathrm{vir}}=18{\pi }^2$. At this high redshift the background matter density is practically the critical density. Circular virial velocity then obeysConsequentlyFor $v_{\mathrm{vir}}=9\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, this gives $H\simeq 7.87\times 10^2\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}\mathrm{Mp}{\mathrm{c}}^{-1}$ and $M_{\min }\simeq 2.3\times 10^7{M}_{\odot }$, with physical virial radius about $1.21\mathrm{kpc}$.

At the threshold mass the halo peak height is $\nu =\sqrt{2}(2.33)\simeq 3.30$, soThe present mean matter density is ${\bar{\rho }}_{m,0}=2.775\times 10^{11}{\Omega }_{\mathrm{mat}}{h}^2{M}_{\odot }{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-3}\simeq 3.60\times 10^{10}{M}_{\odot }{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-3}$. Hence the differential abundance per logarithmic mass interval is about $3.0{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-3}$ andRounded inputs and the supplied approximate factor justify quoting about $0.7\mathrm{Mpc}$. The corresponding physical separation is about $0.088\mathrm{Mpc}$ at this epoch. The requested halo spacing from a differential mass function uses a logarithmic mass bin of order unity; it is not obtained by identifying $f_{\mathrm{coll}}\bar{\rho }/M$ with that differential abundance. A cumulative number density above the threshold requires a separate mass integral.