Paper 4, Section I, E

Cosmology
Part II, 2014

A homogeneous and isotropic universe, with cosmological constant Λ\Lambda, has expansion scale factor a(t)a(t) and Hubble expansion rate H=a˙/aH=\dot{a} / a. The universe contains matter with density ρ\rho and pressure PP which satisfy the positive-energy condition ρ+3P/c20\rho+3 P / c^{2} \geqslant 0. The acceleration equation is

a¨a=4πG3(ρ+3P/c2)+13Λc2\frac{\ddot{a}}{a}=-\frac{4 \pi G}{3}\left(\rho+3 P / c^{2}\right)+\frac{1}{3} \Lambda c^{2}

If Λ0\Lambda \leqslant 0, show that

ddt(H1)1\frac{d}{d t}\left(H^{-1}\right) \geqslant 1

Deduce that HH \rightarrow \infty and a0a \rightarrow 0 at a finite time in the past or the future. What property of HH distinguishes the two cases?

Give a simple counterexample with ρ=P=0\rho=P=0 to show that this deduction fails to hold when Λ>0\Lambda>0.