Paper 1, Section I, B

Cosmology
Part II, 2019

[You may work in units of the speed of light, so that c=1c=1.]

By considering a spherical distribution of matter with total mass MM and radius RR and an infinitesimal mass δm\delta m located somewhere on its surface, derive the Friedmann equation describing the evolution of the scale factor a(t)a(t) appearing in the relation R(t)=R0a(t)/a(t0)R(t)=R_{0} a(t) / a\left(t_{0}\right) for a spatially-flat FLRW spacetime.

Consider now a spatially-flat, contracting universe filled by a single component with energy density ρ\rho, which evolves with time as ρ(t)=ρ0[a(t)/a(t0)]4\rho(t)=\rho_{0}\left[a(t) / a\left(t_{0}\right)\right]^{-4}. Solve the Friedmann equation for a(t)a(t) with a(t0)=1a\left(t_{0}\right)=1.