Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 53 / 1

Put $\Omega ={\Omega }_{m,0}$ and $b=1-\Omega$. Integrating the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation for the separately conserved cosmological fluids givesIn particular, ${\rho }_X{a}^2$ is constant. At the present epoch the flat Friedmann equation implies ${\Omega }_{X,0}=b$. Nonnegative fluid densities therefore require $0\le \Omega \le 1$.

The conformal time relation $dt=ad\tau$ gives the conformal Hubble parameter $\mathcal{H}=aH$. ConsequentlyOn the expanding branch, divide by $\mathcal{H}$ and use $a^{\prime }=a\mathcal{H}$:Eliminating the matter term yields the conformal Riccati equation for matter and a coasting fluid,The nonnegative square root fixes the convenient parameter convention; only ${\alpha }^2$ enters the differential equation.

For $0<\Omega <1$, choose the Big Bang to occur at $\tau =t=0$ and retain the expanding solution. The first integral found above isUse $a=(\Omega /b){\sinh }^{2}u$. Substitution gives $u^{\prime }=H_0\sqrt{b}/2=\alpha /2$, so $u=\alpha \tau /2$. This gives the flat matter-coasting-fluid Friedmann solution:Integrate $dt/d\tau =a$, with the same zero of time:As a check, $a^{\prime }=(\Omega \alpha /2b)\sinh (\alpha \tau )$, and the identity ${\sinh }^{2}v=(\cosh v-1)(\cosh v+1)$ verifies $a^{\prime 2}=H_0^2(\Omega a+b{a}^2)$. Also $t^{\prime }=a$ exactly. At early times $a\simeq \Omega H_0^2{\tau }^2/4$ and $t\simeq \Omega H_0^2{\tau }^3/12$, reproducing the matter-dominated relation $a\propto t^{2/3}$.

The endpoint $\Omega =1$ is obtained by taking the smooth limit: $a=H_0^2{\tau }^2/4$ and $t=H_0^2{\tau }^3/12$. At $\Omega =0$ the coasting cosmic-string universe instead has $a=H_{0}t$ and $\mathcal{H}=H_0$. Its Big Bang is at $\tau =-\infty$, so a finite conformal-time origin at the bang is no longer available; choosing $a=1$ at $\tau =0$ gives $a=e^{H_0\tau }$ and $t=H_0^{-1}{e}^{H_0\tau }$. The physical-age limit remains regular.

Normalize the present scale factor to one. For $0<\Omega <1$, the parametric solution givesThus the age of a flat matter-coasting-fluid universe isA direct age integral proves the bound more transparently than manipulating inverse hyperbolic functions. Since $\dot{a}=H_0\sqrt{\Omega /a+b}$,For $0\le a\le 1$ and $0\le \Omega \le 1$, one has $a\le \Omega +ba\le 1$, henceIntegrating givesEquality on the left is the pure pressureless matter universe, $\Omega =1$; equality on the right is the pure coasting fluid, $\Omega =0$. These are all physically allowed density fractions for the nonnegative two-fluid model. The integrand decreases with $\Omega$, so the coasting-fluid age bound is approached continuously between those endpoints. In the closed expression the apparent $b=0$ singularities cancel using $\mathrm{arsinh}x=x-x^3/6+\cdots$; as $\Omega \to 0$, the term $\Omega \log (1/\Omega )$ vanishes. The limits are respectively $H_0{t}_0=2/3$ and $1$.