Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 57 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take the regular growing matter mode and . With , the constraint givesConsequentlyHere is its early, superhorizon constant value. The fractional time variation is of second gradient order, andThus the primordial curvature is conserved to leading order on superhorizon scales. This is the matter-era density transfer from primordial curvature.
A mode entering after equality evolves in the growing matter solution, givingThis assumes matter-dominated growth to , as in the model. A subsequent dark-energy era would multiply by the appropriate late-time growth suppression. The initial radiation-era adiabatic curvature passes through equality unchanged at leading superhorizon order, so the same is the primordial input.
For , entry occurs in radiation domination at . The entry contrast is of order because its superhorizon value scales as . In the question's stagnation approximation it stays of this order until equality, then grows by . Thusindependent of to that approximation. The precise coefficient needs matching through the equality transition; the horizon convention, including the use of wavelength , also changes the matching definition of by a fixed factor.
One continuous sharp-equality model, normalizing the plateau by matching the low- branch at , is the sharp-equality cold-dark-matter transfer approximationThis is a matching approximation, not an exact solution through equality. The function requested here transfers curvature directly to density. It differs from the conventional normalized matter transfer , where one factors out : that normalized function tends to one at low and to in the stagnation model at high .
For the dimensional primordial spectrum , linear deterministic transfer gives . Hence this sharp model yieldsThe spectrum turns over near equality. Retaining the slow radiation-era logarithmic growth refines the high- transfer to , up to constants in the logarithm and matching factors, and therefore refines the small-scale spectrum to . This is the logarithmic small-scale matter transfer correction to the question's constant-growth idealization. Multiplication by would give dimensionless power, whose large-scale slope is rather than the dimensional spectrum's .