Physical momentum in an FRW universe (${\mathbf{p}}_{\mathrm{phys}}=m\gamma \mathbf{v}=\mathbf{q}/a$)

A freely falling particle's physical momentum is measured in the local orthonormal frame of a comoving observer. With proper peculiar velocity $\mathbf{v}=ad\mathbf{x}/dt$ and Lorentz factor $\gamma =(1-v^2{)}^{-1/2}$, it is $m\gamma \mathbf{v}$. It differs by one factor of the scale factor from the conserved comoving momentum. For a nonrelativistic particle, its peculiar velocity therefore decays as $a^{-1}$.