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Growing and decaying modes. Neglect pressure and insert the Einstein-de Sitter background. A trial $\Delta \propto t^p$ givesThereforeThe quoted growth law selects the growing mode; arbitrary initial data can also contain the decaying one. In a static homogeneous Jeans model, $\ddot{\Delta }=(4\pi G\bar{\rho }-k^2{c}_s^2)\Delta$, so an unstable mode grows exponentially, $e^{\sqrt{4\pi G\bar{\rho }-k^2{c}_s^2}t}$. Expansion introduces the $2H\dot{\Delta }$ damping term and a falling background density, yielding power-law growth instead. If the wavevector in the supplied pressure term is comoving, that term would need $R^{-2}$; the pressureless result does not depend on this convention.

Amplitude problem. Using the stated recombination epoch, matter-era growth from then until today is only about $1501$. A baryonic density perturbation of order $10^{-5}$ would reach merely $1.5\times 10^{-2}$, far below the order-unity regime needed for nonlinear collapse. photon coupling also prevents baryons from freely collapsing before recombination. The observed microwave temperature contrast is not an exact direct measurement of baryon density contrast at every scale: acoustic transfer and gravitational redshift matter. The estimate expresses the insufficient growth of tiny photon-coupled baryonic seeds, not an exact conversion between the two observables.

Coupled gravitational response. Both pressureless components respond to the same perturbed potential. The equations areTheir difference obeys $\ddot{D}+2H\dot{D}=0$, where $D={\Delta }_D-{\Delta }_B$. Thus $\dot{D}\propto R^{-2}$ and, in Einstein-de Sitter, $D=C_0+C_1{t}^{-1/3}=C_0+{\tilde{C}}_1{R}^{-1/2}$.

Catch-up branch and its condition. With dark matter dominating the source and in its growing mode, write ${\Delta }_D=AR$. The full baryon solution isTODO: an initial relative growth velocity is not specified. The requested baryon catch-up approximation after recombination neglects the relative decaying mode, ${\tilde{C}}_1=0$. Defining $C_0=AR(z_0)$ then givesThis branch applies at and after $z_0$ and has ${\Delta }_B(z_0)=0$ and matched baryon/dark-matter growth velocities at that epoch. It does not follow uniquely from vanishing initial baryon density contrast alone. If both ${\Delta }_B$ and its initial time derivative vanish at $R=R(z_0)$, the zero-initial-baryon-velocity catch-up transient instead givesBoth approach unity for $x\gg 1$. The displayed target therefore needs its stated no-relative-decaying-mode assumption; a finite baryon fraction modifies the transient further.

Physical consequence. cold dark matter is not held to the radiation by Thomson scattering, and can build gravitational wells before baryon decoupling, with appreciable matter-era growth after equality. Its growing perturbations then attract baryons once pressure and radiation drag become unimportant. The relative offset stays constant or decays while the common mode grows, so baryons catch up. Nonlinear structure need not grow solely from the tiny baryonic perturbation inferred at decoupling. cold dark matter growth during radiation domination is slower than the matter-era law, and the stated formula is neither a radiation-era nor a nonlinear-collapse solution.