Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 53 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put and . Integrating the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation for the separately conserved cosmological fluids givesIn particular, is constant. At the present epoch the flat Friedmann equation implies . Nonnegative fluid densities therefore require .
The conformal time relation gives the conformal Hubble parameter . ConsequentlyOn the expanding branch, divide by and use :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 enters the differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 310 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use units , and write for the Hubble parameter, with dots denoting cosmic time. Differentiating the Friedmann equation givesOn an interval where , use the Hubble parameter identity and the Friedmann acceleration equation to findSubstitution cancels the curvature term and gives the continuity equationThe cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation extends by continuity through a regular isolated turning point. Physically it states that the change of energy in a comoving volume is the negative of the pressure work: .
For separately conserved cosmological fluids, each component obeys this equation individually. A constant equation-of-state parameter therefore giveswhere the present scale factor is normalized to . Thus the component density laws areThe extra factor for radiation in cosmology is the cosmological redshift of each photon's energy; pressureless matter has only number dilution, while the specified dark energy is a cosmological constant.
The critical density at a given expansion rate is the total density that makes the spatial curvature vanish:These cosmological density parameters use the critical density at that same time. Put and . The Friedmann equation yieldsConsequently the fractional-density evolution, rather than just the component-density evolution, isIn particular . The simple powers of alone apply to , or to , not to the instantaneous cosmological density parameters. At a recollapse turning point , those instantaneous ratios are undefined even though the component densities remain finite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 310 1 a ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For separately conserved cosmological fluids, the prerequisite is absence of energy or momentum exchange between components. Each matter action then gives its own local conservation equation . In the homogeneous perfect fluid in general relativity, its time component isThis is the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation. Equivalently, a physical volume following the fluid satisfies .
The Einstein field equations instead have the single shared metric on its left and on its right. The Friedmann equation and Friedmann acceleration equation therefore involve total density and total pressure; the same geometry cannot be sourced separately by each component's density alone.
The PDF's separate-conservation statement needs this noninteraction qualification. In an interacting system,where is the energy-transfer rate into component . Total conservation remains true, but the source-free equation does not hold individually during processes such as annihilation or particle decay.