Total comoving visibility radius (${\chi }_{\max }={\int }_{t_i}^{t_f}cdt/a(t)$)

In a spatially flat FLRW metric, the supremum of the comoving radial distance from which a signal emitted at the initial time can eventually reach a fixed comoving observer is the total conformal time interval. At an intermediate time $t$, this equals its comoving particle horizon plus the comoving radius of its cosmological event horizon, when both integrals converge. This is a visibility bound for emission arbitrarily close to the initial boundary; it does not assert that a transparent universe or a source existed there.

Use $c=1$, $a_0=1$, positive pressureless matter and positive cosmological constant, with ${\Omega }_m+{\Omega }_{\Lambda }=1$ and no radiation. The Friedmann equation gives ${\chi }_{\max }=H_0^{-1}{\int }_0^{\infty }dy/({\Omega }_{\Lambda }+{\Omega }_m{y}^3{)}^{1/2}$. Set $y=({\Omega }_{\Lambda }/{\Omega }_m{)}^{1/3}u$, then $v=u^3$. The remaining integral is $\frac{1}{3}{\int }_0^{\infty }{v}^{-2/3}(1+v{)}^{-1/2}dv=\frac{1}{3}B(1/3,1/6)$, proving the formula by the beta function integral. Its two endpoints converge for positive densities, but the lifetime diverges in either pure-fluid limit.