1 Redshift and conformal time

Photon trajectories. Recall from GR that a photons trajectory is described

(s) where s is the ane parameter. The photons momentum is

=
dx

ds
. (1)
The photons energy as seen by an observer with 4-velocity u is
E = u

. (2)
In vacuum the photon travels along a geodesic:
dP

ds
=

. (3)
The photon travels on a null curve, so
g

= 0. (4)
Redshift. In the last lecture we considered the FRW metric,
ds
2
= dt
2
+a
2
(t)[d
2
+f()(d
2
+ sin
2
d
2
)]. (5)
Lets imagine that were at the origin = 0, looking in some direction (, ),
at time t
0
. A photon is emitted somewhere else in the universe at (t
i
,
i
, , ),
initially has energy E
i
, and starts traveling toward us. Our job is to determine
the energy E
0
that is observed.
By spherical symmetry, a photon traveling radially will stay at constant
, . (Literal statement: if P

= P

= 0 then dP

/ds = dP

/ds = 0.) The

)
2
= 0; (6)
for inward-going photon,
P

=
E
a
. (7)
So lets get out the Christoel symbols:
dE
ds
=
t
tt
E
2

t
t
E
_

E
a
_

E
a
_
2
. (8)
But of these symbols the only nonzero one is

= a a, (9)
so
dE
ds
=
a
a
E
2
. (10)
1
We really want dE/dt so use
dt
ds
= P
t
= E, (11)
so

E
dE
dt
=
dE/ds
dt/ds
=
a
a
E. (12)
The solution to this, as expected, is E a
1
, or in terms of wavelength
E
1
a.
If a photon was emitted at time t
i
then its wavelength observed today must
be

0
=
a(t
0
)
a(t
i
)

i
. (13)
It is conventional to dene the redshift z according to
z

0

i
=
a(t
0
) a(t
i
)
a(t
i
)
. (14)
So if we normalize the scale factor today, a(t
0
) = 1, then
a(t
i
) =
1
1 +z
. (15)
The redshift-time relation z(t) is simply another way to parameterize the ex-
pansion of the Universe.
Conformal time. One of the most important quantities in cosmology is
the relation between redshift and distance if we see an object at z = 2, what
is its radial coordinate
i
where the photon was emitted?
Since the photons trajectory is null, u

= 0:
(u
t
)
2
+a
2
(u

)
2
= 0 (16)
for a photon moving radially (u

= u

= 0). This means

u
t
=
1
a
. (17)
For a photon moving toward us we take the solution, so integrate:

0

i
=
_
t0
ti
dt
a
. (18)
The radial coordinate today (observed) is
0
= 0 so

i
=
_
t0
ti
dt
a
. (19)
Lets dene the conformal time by
(t) =
_
dt
a
, (20)
2
so

i
=
0

i
(21)
where
0
is the conformal time today and
i
is the conformal time of emission.
We havent dened the zero point of conformal time (constant of integra-
tion in Eq. 20). Usually take = 0 at the Big Bang, except when studying
ination.
The conformal time , scale factor a, redshift z, and proper time t are all
dierent possible time coordinates and we are free to choose among them.
When we do perturbation theory it will be useful to write the metric with
instead of t. Since
dt = a d, (22)
we have
ds
2
= a
2
()[d
2
+d
2
+f()(d
2
+ sin
2
d
2
)]. (23)
In the special case of a spatially at universe where f() =
2
the quantity
in brackets is the Minkowski metric (in polar coordinates). The factor a
2
is a
conformal transformation, hence the name conformal time.
Horizon. The most distant objects that we can see are the ones whose light
left them at the Big Bang. Their radial coordinate is
=
0
. (24)
The sphere centered on the observer at this distance is known as the horizon.
Objects beyond the horizon cannot be seen.
The horizon only exists if the integral
_
dt/a is convergent at the Big Bang.
(Well come back to this when we study ination.)
2 Distance measures
Weve already described one measure of distance to a galaxy, . This is called
the radial comoving distance. It is the distance that would be measured at the
present epoch by laying down a sequence of rulers end-to-end from us to the
galaxy that are at rest with respect to the comoving observers. That is,
=
_
galaxy
observer
ds, (25)
where the path of integration is at constant t, and is at the present, a = 1.
The word comoving here refers to the fact that the distances are measured
with the size of the Universe at the present epoch, not the fact that the rulers
are at rest with respect to the comoving observer.
Nobody can measure the radial comoving distance, so we have several other
quantities.
The angular diameter distance D
A
, which is the distance that goes in
the relation between angular diameter and physical diameter S
phys
:
= S/D
A
.
3
The comoving angular diameter distance r, which is the distance that goes
in the relation between angular diameter and the comoving diameter
S
com
(i.e. the diameter of a stucture today if it expands with the Hubble
ow): = S
com
/r.
The luminosity distance D
L
, which is the distance that goes in the relation
between ux F of a source (in W/m
2
) and luminosity L (in W): F =
L/(4D
2
L
).
So we need to calculate each of these.
Angular diameter distance. From the metric we can see that the physical
diameter subtended by an object is
S
phys
=
_
ds =
_

ds
2
=
_
_
a
2
f() d
2
= a
_
f() . (26)
The angular diameter distance is the coecient of proportionality,
D
A
= a
_
f(). (27)
A special case is the spatially at universe, where f() =
2
. Then
D
A
= a. (28)
This distance can be measured if we have an object of known physical size
(standard ruler).
Comoving angular diameter distance. Now instad of using the physical
diameter of an object, we will use the comoving diameter, that is the size if it
keeps expanding with the Hubble ow. This means that the object expands by
a factor of a
0
/a = 1/a. Thus
S
com
=
S
phys
a
=
_
f() . (29)
The comoving angular diameter distance is the coecient of proportionality,
r =
_
f() =
_
_
_
K = 0
K
1/2
sin(K
1/2
) K > 0
(K)
1/2
sinh[(K)
1/2
] K < 0
(30)
Note that r = for the spatially at universe.
This distance can be measured if we have an object of known comoving size.
Example would be a statistical feature in the distribution of galaxies, which will
grow as we go to later times because of Hubble expansion.
For most objects it is easier to measure redshift than distance. If we know
z and hence a = 1/(1 +z) and one of r or D
A
then we can nd the other from
D
A
= a =

1 +z
. (31)
4
Luminosity distance. A third possible distance arises from the relation of
ux to luminosity,
F =
L
4D
2
L
. (32)
Need to nd constant of proportionality between L and F.
Consider a blackbody of diameter S
phys
and temperature T. The phase
space density of photons emerging from it is
f =
1
e
Ei/kT
1
, (33)
where E
i
is the energy of the emitted photon. When these photons get to the
observer, the energy has declined to
E
0
=
E
i
1 +z
. (34)
By conservation of phase space density (Liouvilles theorem), the phase space
density today is
f =
1
e
E0(1+z)/kT
1
, (35)
so the observer sees a blackbody at temperature T
0
= T/(1 +z).
Now the luminosity of the object is
L = 4
_
S
phys
2
_
2
T
4
. (36)
= Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
The ux for a blackbody of solid angle
=
_

2
_
2
. (37)
is
F =

T
4
0
(38)
[Constant out front occurs because the net downward ux in one direction, say
the e
3
axis, from a blackbody that lls the sky is T
4
0
. Therefore
T
4
0
=
_
hemisphere
dF
d
cos d =
_
2
0
_
/2
0
dF
d
cos sin d d =
dF
d
. (39)
The cos comes from the fact that the ux is actually a vector.]
This simplies to
F =
_

2
_
2

_
T
1 +z
_
4
. (40)
5
Compare to L:
L
F
= 4
_
S
phys

_
2
(1 +z)
4
. (41)
We recognize the ratio S
phys
/ as the angular diameter distance:
L
F
= 4D
2
A
(1 +z)
4
. (42)
So the left hand side is 4D
2
L
and thus
D
L
= D
A
(1 +z)
2
= r(1 +z). (43)
3 Example: Einstein de Sitter Universe
Now that weve done the theory, lets see how these equations play out in the
simplest universe, the Einstein-de Sitter universe. This is a universe that is
spatially at and consists only of matter (w = 0). It is NOT the real universe
because it doesnt have a .
Density today is given by the Friedmann equation in terms of the Hubble
constant,
H
2
0
=
8
3
G
0
, (44)
so

0
=
3H
2
0
8G
. (45)
The scale factor as a function of time we solved in the previous lecture:
a =
_
3(1 +w)
2
_
2/3(1+w)
_
8
3
G
0
_
1/3(1+w)
t
2/3(1+w)
. (46)
For w = 0 and above
0
:
a =
_
3
2
H
0
t
_
2/3
. (47)
The time today (age of the Universe!) is
t
0
=
2
3H
0
. (48)
The Hubble constant as a function of time is
H =
2
3t
= H
0
a
3/2
. (49)
The time as a function of scale factor is
t =
2
3H
0
a
3/2
. (50)
6
The conformal time is
=
_
dt
a
=
_
2
3H
0
_
2/3
_
dt
t
2/3
=
_
2
3H
0
_
2/3
3t
1/3
=
_
2
3H
0
_
2/3
3
_
2
3H
0
_
1/3
a
1/2
=
2
H
0
a
1/2
.
(51)
The conformal time today (horizon distance!) is

0
=
2
H
0
. (52)
Now lets look at distance-redshift relations. The comoving radial distance
is
=
0
=
2
H
0
(1 a
1/2
) =
2
H
0
_
1
1

1 +z
_
. (53)
For a spatially at universe, r is the same as . The angular diameter and
luminosity distances dier by a factor of 1 +z:
D
A
=
2
H
0
(1 +z)
_
1
1

1 +z
_
. (54)
and
D
L
=
2
H
0
_
1 +z

1 +z
_
. (55)
In the limit where z 1 can show
, r, D
A
, D
L

z
H
0
. (56)
This relation between the distance and redshift is known as Hubbles law and
we will show next time that it applies to all nonsingular FRW models.
4 Density parameters, general expressions for
the distances
Density parameters. It is often helpful to dene the dimensionless density
parameters that describe the distribution of the Universes energy in dierent
constituents. To do this lets dene the critical density:

crit
=
3H
2
8G
. (57)
From the Friedmann equation we know that this is the density that would make
the Universe at. For each constituent in the Universe, we can dene a density
parameter:

X
=

X

crit
. (58)
7
Here X could be baryons, dark matter, radiation, cosmological constant, etc.
The Friedmann equation then says
8
3
G
crit

X
= H
2
+
K
a
2
, (59)
or:
H
2

X
= H
2
+
K
a
2
. (60)
It is common to dene a curvature parameter,

K

K
a
2
H
2
. (61)
This way the Friedmann equation simply says:

X
+
K
= 1. (62)
Constraints on curvature are often written in terms of
K
. Interpretation:
For a spatially at universe,
K
= 0.
For a closed universe,
K
< 0 and the radius of curvature is aR = a/

K =
|
K
|
1/2
H
1
.
For an open universe,
K
> 0. The imaginary radius of curvature is
i
1/2
K
H
1
.
The curvature today (a = 1) can be expressed in terms of
K
:
K =
K
H
2
0
. (63)
Warning:
K
does not correspond to an actual density, its just a number
introduced to make the Friedmann equation look simple.
Warning 2: In the literature
m
,

, etc. usually refer to values today, even

=constant);
Curvature, K;
(Nonrelativistic) matter, m (
m
a
3
);
Radiation, r (
r
a
4
).
8
So today the Friedmann equation says

+
m
+
r
+
K
= 1. (64)
Lets now go to some previous scale factor a. The total density of the universe
back then was
(a) =
0
+
m0
a
3
+
r0
a
4
=
crit,0
(

+
m
a
3
+
r
a
4
). (65)
The Hubble constant at a is:
H
2
=
8
3
G(a)
K
a
2
=
8
3
G
crit,0
(

+
m
a
3
+
r
a
4
) +

K
H
2
0
a
2
= H
2
0
(

+
m
a
3
+
r
a
4
+
K
a
2
). (66)
Lets dene the energy function E(a) by:
E(a) =
_

+
m
a
3
+
r
a
4
+
K
a
2
. (67)
Then the Hubble constant varies with redshift according to
H(z) = H
0
_
E(z). (68)
The present age of the universe is:
t
0
=
_
1
a=0
dt =
_
1
0
da
a
=
_
1
0
da
aH
= H
1
0
_
1
0
da
a
_
E(a)
. (69)
This integral can also be written in terms of redshift:
t
0
= H
1
0
_

0
dz
(1 +z)
_
E(z)
. (70)
The age of the universe at some previous time can be written as:
t(z) = H
1
0
_

z
dz

(1 +z

)
_
E(z

)
. (71)
For observers these relations are extremely useful because z is usually observable
whereas t, H, etc. are much harder.
Distance measures. The conformal time in one of these models is
=
_
dt
a
=
_
da
a a
=
_
da
a
2
H
= H
1
0
_
da
a
2
_
E(a)
= H
1
0
_
dz
_
E(z)
. (72)
So at a particular redshift, and taking the initial condition = 0 at z = :
(z) = H
1
0
_

z
dz

_
E(z

)
. (73)
9
The radial comoving distance is:
(z) =
0
(z) = H
1
0
_
z
0
dz

_
E(z

)
. (74)
We can then obtain the other distance measures from
r =
_
_
_
K = 0
K
1/2
sin(K
1/2
) K > 0
(K)
1/2
sinh[(K)
1/2
] K < 0
(75)
and
D
L
= r(1 +z); D
A
=
r
1 +z
. (76)
10