PHYS 432/532: Cosmology

Winter 2018

Solutions to Homework 1

Ryden 4.1. (7 points)

The total energy of the cosmological constant contained in a sphere of radius 1 AU is
4 3
E = r "  4 (4870 MeV
m¡3)(1AU)3
3
E  7  1037 MeV
The rest energy of the sun is
E  = M c2 = 1  1060 MeV

As E  E, the cosmological constant is unimportant to the dynamics inside of the solar system.
Ryden 4.4. (8 points)
The number density of baseballs is
c 8.7  10¡27 kg
m¡3
nbb = =
mbb 0.145kg

nbb = 6  10¡26 m¡32  1042 Mpc¡3

The average length of line of sight is given by equation 2.3 from the textbook.
1

(2  1042 Mpc¡3)(0.0369m)2

  4  105 Mpc

This is approximetely 100 times the Hubble length given in the textbook.
The fact that the Hubble length is much shorter than this estimate, however, does not place useful
limits on the density of baseballs, as we might expect this density to be larger by a factor of 100,
so that on average our line of sight terminates on a baseball.
Ryden 5.5. (8 points)
i) From equation 5.9, we know the scaling relation of dierent materials based on their equation
of state w. If we compare matter and phantom energy, we nd that
 
" a¡3
m;0
1 = m;0 = ¡3
am p
"p;0 1 ¡
m;0
 1/3

m;0
amp =
1 ¡
m;0

For
m;0 = 0.3,
am p = 0.8

ii) In the limit a  am p (essentially, when a  1), the universe is dominated by the phantom
energy. In this state we can ignore the curvature term from the Friedmann equation, such that
 2
a_
= (1 ¡
m) H02 a¡3(1+wp)
a

1
Where wp is the equation-of-state for the phantom energy.
p ¡(1+3w p)
a_ = 1 ¡
m;0 H0 a 2

We will integrate by separation of variables:

Z trip Z 1
1 (1+3w p)
H0 dt = p a 2 da
t0 1 ¡
m;0 1


3(1+w p)  1
1 2
H0 (trip ¡ t0) = p a 2 1
1 ¡
m;0 3(1 + wp)

Because wp  ¡1, the integral on the right-hand side of the equation converges, and we can say that

1 2
H0 (trip ¡ t0)  ¡ p
1 ¡
m;0 3(1 + wp)

Given the parameters

m;0 = 0.3, wp = ¡1.1, and H0 = 68 km
s¡1
Mpc¡1, then the Big Rip will
occur in approximately 100 billion years .
Ryden 5.9. (7 points)
Per equation 5.014, if t0 is equal to H0¡1, then
"p #
2 1 ¡
m;0 + 1
p log p =1
3 1 ¡
m;0
m;0

Using a numerical sover, we nd that this is true when

m;0 = 0.2629.
Problem 5. (20 points)
Consider a universe in which
M = 0.3, but which is otherwise empty.
a) In units of the Hubble time (1 / H0), how old is the universe now, t0? You will need to do
a numerical integration, so please include your code.
b) Now adjust your model so that it contains a matter component
M = 0.3, and a cosmolog-
ical constant component,
 = 0.7 (with w < ¡1). How old is this universe?
c) Grad Students only: For each of the above models, plot a (y-axis) versus t (x-axis). Be
sure that a=1 and t=now represent the same point on the plot for both models, and that
the two models are superimposed. Time should be expressed in units of H0¡1 .
a) The Friedmann equation for a universe that contains matter, but is otherwise empty is given
by equation 5.85 from the textbook.
 2
1 a_
1 ¡
M
= M +
H02 a a3 a2
r
a_
M
= + 1 ¡
M
H0 a

To calcualate the age of this universe, t0, we integrate by separation of variables.

Z 1 ¡1/2

M
H0 t0 = + 1 ¡
M da
0 a

This must be computed numerically. For example, this can be done with a scheme as simple as
Riemann integration, which gives
H0 t0  0.8

2
b) If we instead assume that the universe is at, and that there is then the Friedmann equation
becomes:
a_ 2
M 2
2 = a + (1 ¡
M ) a
H0

r
a_
M
= + (1 ¡
M ) a2
H0 a

Z 1 ¡1/2

M
H0 t0 = + (1 ¡
M ) a2 da
0 a

Again applying Riemann integration, we nd that

H0 t0  0.96

In this case, the presence of a cosmological constant hastens the expansion, cuasing the universe
to appear older than a case with only matter.
c) If we want to output data for a as a function of time we could integrate the expression for a_
using an explicit Euler method, with the initial condition that a(1) = 1. This condition will appyly
for both the matter only case, and the matter plus cosmological constant case.

Figure 1.

3
Problem 6. (15 points)
The currently accepted value of the Hubble constant is approximately 67 km/s/Mpc. Consider a
galaxy observed with a redshift, z =0.05. Note that this is suciently small that you may assume
H0 to be a constant during the entire duration of the light travel time.

a) How far away is the galaxy?

b) How long ago was the light emitted from the galaxy?

c) Imagine a Balmer photon was emitted from this galaxy (If you don't remember what this
is, I strongly recommend you look it up). At what wavelength will you observe it here on
earth?

a) Per equation 2.8, the distance to a galaxy with a redshift of 0.05 is

cz
r=
H0

r  220 Mpc

b) The galaxy is near enough that we can say that the time required for the photon to reach earth is

r
t  = 720 million years
c

c) Balmer photons have a wavelength of about 656 nm. Therefore, the observed wavelength
will be

ob = (1 + z) em = (1.05) (656nm)

ob = 689nm

Problem 7. (20 points)

Imagine a matter only universe in which
M = 0.99999 at t=1 s. While we normally set t0 to now,
the now for this problem should be 1 second after the big bang.

a) What was the Hubble constant 1s after the big bang in this universe? Given the value of
M ,
you may assume the universe behaved as an Einstein-deSitter universe up until that point.

b) What was the critical density 1 s after the big bang in this universe?

c) By what factor will the universe expand from t=1 s to t=10 Gyr? You will need to do a
numerical integration.

d) What will
M be 10 billion years after the big bang?

a) In a universe that contains only matter, the relationship between the age of the universe and
the Hubble constant is given by equation 5.53. That is,

3
H0 =  2  10¡20 km
s¡1
Mpc¡1
2 t0
b) Per equation 4.32,
3 H02
c =  8  108 kg
m¡3
8G

4
c) The Friedmann equation for a universe that contains matter, but is otherwise empty is:
r
a_
M
= + (1 ¡
M )
H0 a

We integrate this by separation of variables.

Z 10 Gyr Z 
anal
¡1/2

M
H0 dt = + (1 ¡
M ) da
1s 1 a

At t = 1 s, the expansion factor is dened to be equal to one, and so it will be the case that for
most of its life, this universe will be dominated by curvature. That is,
Z anal
da
H0 (10 Gyr)  p
1 (1 ¡
M )

a
H0 (10 Gyr)  p nal
(1 ¡
M )
 
2 ¡1 p
anal  s (10 Gyr) 1 ¡ 0.99999
3

anal  7  1014

d)
m scales as

M
a3nal

M ;nal =
M 1¡

a3nal
+ a2 M
nal

M

M ;nal =

M + anal (1 ¡
M )

0.99999

M ;nal =
0.99999 + (7  1014) (0.00001)

M ;nal = 1.4  10¡10

Problem 8. (15 points)

Suppose you live in an expanding universe with the same physics as our own but (potentially)
dierent cosmological parameters. Through astronomical means, it is established that the universe
is between 10 and 11 Gy old.

a) Suppose the universe contains only matter, and thus there are only two relevant cosmological
parameters:
M and h. On a single plot relating the two parameters, illustrate all possible
combinations of these two parameters. This should be done on a computer, not by hand,
and ranges should include 0 <
M < 2 and 0 < h < 2.

b) Grad Students only: Suppose instead, we consider universes that are geometrically at
and have a cosmological constant:
M +
 = 1. The universe can still be described by two
parameters,
M and h. Do the same analysis in part a, and overplot the ranges of parameters
for these universes over the results from part a.

5
a) As in problem 5 part a, we can calucalate the age of the universe as
Z 1 ¡1/2

M
t0 = (10 Gyr) h + 1 ¡
M da
0 a

This integral needs to be evaluated numerically. Once you have obtained values for the age of the
universe, it is possible to determine pairs of h and
M that have ages between 10 Gyr and 11 Gyr
by interpolation. This yields a pair of curves as shown in Figure 2 by the dashed lines; possible
universes exist in the parameter space between these curves.

Figure 2.

b) Equation 5.104 denes a locus of points based on the epxerimentally dened age of the uni-
verse. This corresponds to the space between the red curves in Figure 2.