4 FriedmannRobertsonWalker Universe

We shall now apply the Einstein equation to the homogeneous and isotropic case,
which leads to FriedmannRobertsonWalker (FRW) cosmology. The metric is now
the RobertsonWalker metric,
 
2 2 2 dr 2 2 2 2 2 2
ds = dt + a (t) + r d + r sin d . (1)
1 Kr 2
Calculating the Einstein tensor from this metric gives
3 2
G00 = (a + K) (2)
a2
1
G11 = 2 (2aa + a 2 + K) = G22 = G33 . (3)
a
We use here the orthonormal basis (signified by theover the index).
We assume the perfect fluid form for the energy tensor

T = ( + p)u u + pg . (4)

(For the present universe this implies a very large-scale viewpoint, where individual
galaxies are microscopic fluid particles, too small to be resolved). Isotropy implies
that the fluid is at rest in the RobertsonWalker coordinates, so that u = (1, 0, 0, 0)
and (remember, g = = diag(1, 1, 1, 1))

0 0 0
0 p 0 0
T =
0 0 p 0 .
(5)
0 0 0 p

Homogeneity implies that = (t), p = p(t).

The Einstein equation becomes now
3 2
(a + K) = 8G (6)
a2
 2
a
a K
2 2 = 8Gp . (7)
a a a
Let us rearrange this pair of equations to
 2
a K 8G
+ 2 = (8)
a a 3
a
4G
= ( + 3p) . (9)
a 3
These are the Friedmann equations. (Friedmann equation in singular refers to
Eq. (8).)
The general relativity version of energy and momentum conservation, energy-
momentum continuity, follows from the Einstein equation. In the present case this
becomes the energy continuity equation
a
= 3( + p) . (10)
a

35
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 36

Since the fluid is at rest, there is no equation for the momentum. (Exercise: Derive
this from the Friedmann equations!)
We define H a/a. This quantity H = H(t) gives the expansion rate of
the universe, and it is called the Hubble parameter. Its present value H0 is the
Hubble constant. The dimension of H is 1/time (or velocity/distance). In time dt a
distance gets stretched by a factor 1 + Hdt (a distance L grows with velocity HL).
The Friedmann equation (8) connects the three quantities, the density , the space
curvature K/a2 , and the expansion rate H of the universe,
 
3 2 K 3K
= H + 2 = c + . (11)
8G a 8Ga2

(Note that the curvature quantity K/a2 is invariant under the r coordinate scaling
we discussed earlier.) Here we have defined the critical density

3H 2
c (t) , (12)
8G
corresponding to a given value of the Hubble parameter.1 Defined this way, the
critical density changes as the Hubble parameter evolves. Usually, by critical density
we mean its present value, given by the value of the Hubble constant,

3H02
c c (t0 ) . (13)
8G
The nature of the curvature then depends on the density :

< c K<0 (14)

= c K=0 (15)
> c K > 0. (16)
(17)

The density parameter (t) is defined

(t)
(t) . (18)
c (t)
Thus = 1 implies a flat universe, < 1 an open universe, and > 1 a closed
universe. The Friedmann equation can now be written as
K
(t) = 1 + , (19)
H 2 a2
a very useful relation. Here K is a constant, and the other quantities are functions
of time (t), H(t), and a(t). Note that if < 1 (or > 1), it will stay that way. And
if = 1, it will stay constant, = 0 = 1. Observations suggest that the density
of the universe today is close to critical, 0 1.
To solve the Friedmann equations, we need the equation of state p(). The
simplest cases are
1
We could also define likewise a critical Hubble parameter Hc corresponding to a given density ,
but since, of the above three quantities, the Hubble constant has usually been the best determined
observationally, it has been better to refer other quantities to it.
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 37

Matter (called matter in cosmology, but dust in general relativity),

meaning nonrelativistic matter (particle velocities v 1), for which p ,
so that we can forget the pressure, and approximate p = 0. From Eq. (10),
d(a3 )/dt = 0, or a3 .

Radiation, meaning ultrarelativistic matter (where particle energies are

their rest masses, which is always true for massless particles like photons), for
which p = /3. From Eq. (10), d(a4 )/dt = 0, or a4 .

Vacuum energy (or the cosmological constant), for which = const. From
Eq. (10) follows the equation of state for vacuum energy: p = . Thus
a positive vacuum energy corresponds to a negative vacuum pressure. You
may be used to pressure being positive, but there is nothing unphysical about
negative pressure. In other contexts it is often called (positive) tension
instead of (negative) pressure.2

We know that the universe contains ordinary, nonrelativistic matter. We also

know that there is radiation, especially the cosmic microwave background. In Chap-
ters 5 and 6 we shall discuss how the different known particle species behave as
radiation in the early universe when it is very hot, but as the universe cools, the
massive particles change form ultrarelativistic (radiation) to nonrelativistic (mat-
ter). During the transition period the pressure due to that particle species falls
from p = /3 to p 0. We shall discuss these transition periods in Chapter 6. In
this chapter we focus on the later evolution of the universe (after big bang nucleosyn-
thesis). Then the known forms of matter and energy in the universe can be divided
into these two classes: matter (p 0) and radiation (p /3). Except that we do
not know the small masses of neutrinos. Depending on the values of these masses,
neutrinos may make this radiation-to-matter transition sometime during this later
evolution.
We already revealed in Chapter 1 that the present observational data cannot
be explained in terms of known forms of particles and energy using known laws of
physics, and therefore we believe that there are other, unknown forms of energy in
the universe, called dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter has by definition
negligible pressure, so that we can ignore its pressure in the Friedmann equations.
However, to explain the observed expansion history of the universe, an energy com-
ponent with negative pressure is needed. This we call dark energy. We do not know
its equation of state. The simplest possibility for dark energy is just the cosmo-
logical constant (vacuum energy), which fits the data perfectly. Therefore we shall
carry on our discussion assuming three energy components: matter, radiation, and
vacuum energy. We shall later comment on how much current observations actually
constrain the equation of state for dark energy.
If the universe contains these three energy components, we can arrange Eq. (8)
2
In Chapter 5 we derive formulae for the pressures of different particle species in thermal equilib-
rium. These always give a positive pressure. The point is that there we ignore interparticle forces.
To make the pressure from particles negative, would require strong attractive forces between parti-
cles. But the vacuum pressure is not from particles, its from the vacuum. If the dark energy is not
just vacuum energy, it is usually thought to be some kind of field. For fields, a negative pressure
comes out more naturally than for particles.
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 38

into the form  2

a 1
= 2 a4 + 2 a3 Ka2 + , (20)
a 3
where , , K, and are constants.3 The four terms on the right hand side are due
to radiation, matter, curvature, and vacuum energy, in that order. As the universe
expands (a grows), different components on the right hand side become important
at different times. Early on, when a was very small, the universe was radiation-
dominated. If the universe keeps expanding without limit, eventually the vacuum
energy will become dominant (it may already be the largest term). In the middle
we may have matter-dominated and curvature-dominated eras.
We know that the radiation component is insignificant at present, and we can
forget it in Eq. (20), if we exclude the first few million years of the universe from
discussion.
In the inflationary scenario, there was something resembling a very large vac-
uum energy density in the very early universe (during the first small fraction of
the first second), which then disappeared. So there may have been a very early
vacuum-dominated era (inflation).
Let us now solve the Friedmann equation for the case where one of the four terms
dominates. The equation has the form
 2
a n
= 2 an or a 2 1 da = dt. (21)
a

Integration gives
2 n
a 2 = t, (22)
n
where we chose t = 0, so that a(t = 0) = 0. We get the three cases:
n = 4 radiation dominated a t1/2
n = 3 matter dominated a t2/3
n = 2 curvature dominated (K < 0) a t
The cases K > 0 and vacuum energy have to be treated differently (exercise).

Example: Age of the flat universe with = 0. Consider the simplest case, = 1
(K = 0) and = 0. The first couple of million years when radiation can not be ignored,
makes an insignificant contribution to the present age of the universe, so we can ignore
radiation also. We have now the matter-dominated case. For the density we have
 a 3  a 3  a 3
0 0 0
= 0 = 0 c = c . (23)
a a a
The Friedmann equation is now
 2
a 8G  a0 3 3/2
= c a1/2 da = H0 a0 dt
a | 3{z } a
H02
Z a2 Z t2
1/2 3/2 2 3/2 3/2 3/2
a da = H0 a 0 dt (a a1 ) = H0 a0 (t2 t1 ).
a1 t1 3 2
3
Here we ignore any transfer of energy between these components. This kind of transfer is
important only in the early universe, before big bang nucleosynthesis. In Chapter 6 we return to
the question of the early universe to discuss its expansion law more exactly.
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 39

Thus we get
  32   23   
2 a2 a1 2 1 1 1
t2 t1 = H01 = H0 (24)
3 a0 a0 3 (1 + z2 )3/2 (1 + z1 )3/2

where z is the redshift.

Let t2 = t0 be the present time (z = 0). The time elapsed since t = t1 corresponding
to redshift z is
"   23 #  
2 1 a1 2 1 1
t 0 t = H0 1 = H0 1 . (25)
3 a0 3 (1 + z)3/2

Let t1 = 0 and t2 = t(z) be the time corresponding to redshift z. The age of the
universe corresponding to z is
  23
2 a2 2 1 1
t = H01 = H0 = t(z). (26)
3 a0 3 (1 + z)3/2

This is the age-redshift relationship. For the present (z = 0) age of the universe we
get
2
t0 = H01 . (27)
3
The Hubble constant is H0 h100 km/s/Mpc = h/(9.78 109 yr), or H01 = h1 9.78
109 yr. Thus (
9 9.3 109 yr h=0.7
t0 = h 6.52 10 yr =
1
(28)
13.0 109 yr h=0.5

The ages of the oldest stars appear to be at least about 12 109 years. Considering the
HST value for the Hubble constant (h = 0.72 0.08), this model has an age problem.

Cosmological parameters
If the universe does not have the critical density, then we have to include the spatial
curvature term. Also, the vacuum energy may be nonzero and important today. We
divide the density into its matter, radiation, and vacuum components = m + r +
vac , and likewise for the density parameter, = m + r + , where m m /c ,
r r /c , and vac /c /3H 2 . m , r , and are functions of time
(although vac is constant, c (t) is not). In standard notation, m , r , and
denote the present values of these density parameters, and we write m (t), r (t),
and (t), if we want to refer to their values at other times. Thus we write

0 m + r + . (29)

The present radiation density is relatively small, r 104 (we shall calculate it in
Chapter 6). So we usually write just

0 = m + . (30)

The radiation density is also known very accurately from the temperature of the
cosmic microwave background, and therefore r is not usually considered as a cos-
mological parameter (in the sense of an inaccurately known number that we try to
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 40

fit with observations). The FRW cosmological model is thus defined by giving the
present values of the three cosmological parameters, H0 , m , and .
Observations favor the values h 0.7, m 0.3, and 0.7. (We have
already discussed the observational determination of H0 . We shall discuss the ob-
servational determination of m and both in this Chapter and later.)
Since the critical density is h2 , it is often useful to use instead the physical
or reduced density parameters, m m h2 , r r h2 , which are directly pro-
portional to the actual densities in kg/m3 . (An turns out not be so useful and
is not used.)

Age of the FRW universe

Consider now the general case with arbitrary values of m and . Now the Fried-
mann equation has four terms on the right hand side,
 2  a 4 8G  a 3
a 8G 0 0 K
= r c + m c + H02 2
a 3
| {z } a 3
| {z } a a
r H02 m H02
q
da
= H0 a0 r a20 a2 + m a0 a1 + a2 a2 2 2
0 KH0 a0 .
dt
Defining
a 1
x = , (31)
a0 1+z
we get
1 da dx p
= H0 r x2 + m x1 + x2 + (1 0 ), (32)
a0 dt dt
where we have used Eq. (19). We shall later have much use for this convenient
form of the Friedmann equation. Now we integrate from it the time it takes for the
universe to expand from a1 to a2 , or from redshift z1 to z2 ,
Z t2 Z x2
1 dx
dt = H0 p (33)
t1 x1 (1 0 ) + r x + m x1 + x2
2

This is integrable to an elementary function if two of the four terms under the root
sign are absent.
From this we get the age-redshift relationship
Z Z 1
t 1+z dx
t(z) = dt = H01 p . (34)
0 0 (1 0 ) + r x2 + m x1 + x2

(This gives t(z), that is, t(a). Inverting this function gives us a(t), the scale factor
as a function of time. Now a(t) is not necessarily an elementary function, even if
t(a) is. Sometimes one can get a parameter representation a(), t() in terms of
elementary functions.)
In Fig. 1 we have integrated Eq. (32) from the initial conditions a = a0 , a = H0 a0 ,
both backwards and forwards from the present time t = t0 to find a(t) as a function
of time.
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 41

Matter only Flat universe

2.0 2.0

1.8 1.8

1.6 1.6

1.4 1.4

1.2 1.2
a/a0

a/a0
1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
time (Hubble units) time (Hubble units)

Figure 1: The expansion of the universe a(t) for a) the matter-only universe = 0,
m = 0, 0.2,. . . ,1.8 (from top to bottom) b) the flat universe 0 = 1 ( = 1 m ),
m = 0, 0.05, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.05 (from top to bottom). The time axis gives
H0 (t t0 ), i.e, 0.0 corresponds to the present time.

For the present age of the universe we get

Z t0 Z 1
1 dx
t0 = dt = H0 p . (35)
0 0 (1 0 ) + r x + m x1 + x2
2

where ignoring the r term causes negligible error.

Example: Age of the open universe. Consider now the case of the open universe (K < 0
or 0 < 1), but without vacuum energy ( = 0), and approximating r 0. Integrating
m
Eq. (35) (e.g., with substitution x = 1m
sinh2 2 ) gives for the age of the open universe
Z 1
dx
t0 = H01
0 1 m + m x
1
 
1 m 2
= H0
1
arcosh 1 . (36)
1 m 2(1 m )3/2 m

A special case of the open universe is the empty, or curvature-dominated, universe

(m = 0 and = 0). Now the Friedmann equation says dx/dt = H0 , or a = a0 H0 t, and
t0 = H01 .
From the cases considered so far we get the following table for the age of the universe:
m t0
0 0 H01
0.1 0 0.90H01
0.3 0 0.81H01
0.5 0 0.75H01
1 0 (2/3)H01
There are many ways of estimating the matter density m of the universe, some of which
are discussed in Chapter 8. These estimates give m 0.3. With m = 0.3, = 0 (no
dark energy), and h = 0.72, we get t0 = 12.2 109 years. This is about the same as the
lowest estimates for the ages of the oldest stars. Since it should take hundreds of millions of
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 42

years for the first stars to form, the open universe (or in general, a no-dark-energy universe,
= 0) seems also to have an age problem.
The cases (m > 1, = 0) and (0 = m + = 1, > 0) are left as
exercises. The more general case (0 6= 1, 6= 0) leads to elliptic functions.

Distance-redshift relationship and the horizon

In cosmology, the typical velocities of observers (with respect to the comoving coor-
dinates) are small, v <1000 km/s, so that we do not have to worry about Lorentz
contraction. The expansion of the universe brings, however, other complications to
the concept of distance. Do we mean by the distance of a galaxy how far it is now
(longer), how far it was when the observed light left the galaxy (shorter), or the
distance the light has traveled (intermediate)? By comoving distance we mean the
proper distance scaled to the present value of the scale factor (or sometimes to some
other special time we choose as the reference time). If the objects have no peculiar
velocity their comoving distance at any time is the same as their distance today.
From the Robertson-Walker metric,
 
2 2 2 dr 2 2 2 2 2 2
ds = dt + a (t) + r d + r sin d , (37)
1 Kr 2

we already got that the proper distance from the origin to the coordinate value r at
a given time t is (I have changed the notation from s to d)

1/2 arcsin(K 1/2 r)
Z r
dr a(t)K
,K > 0
d(t) = a(t) = a(t) r , K = 0 (38)
0 1 Kr 2
1/2
a(t)|K| 1/2 arsinh(|K| r) , K < 0

To facilitate handling all three cases simultaneously, we define the generalized

sine,
sin(x) ,
k=1
Sk (x) x , k=0 (39)


sinh(x) , k = 1
and its slightly more generalized version

1/2 sin(K 1/2 x) ,
K
K>0
SK (x) x , K=0 (40)

1/2
|K| 1/2
sinh(|K| x) . K < 0

We write Sk1 and SK 1 1

for their inverse functions. The functions SK and SK convert
between the two natural unscaled (i.e., you still need to multiply this distance by
the scale factor a) radial distance definitions for the RW metric: d/a, the proper
distance measured along the radial line, and r which is related to the length of the
circle and area of the sphere at this distance with the familiar 2r and 4r 2 . Thus
we have
d(t) = a(t)SK 1
(r) = a(t)|K|1/2 Sk1 (|K|1/2 r) (41)
for the proper distance.
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 43

Age of the universe / H-1

0
2

no big bang
1.5

1.5
2

1.2

75
0.
0.9

0.

7
0.
1

accelerating --- decelerating

0.5 open --- closed

recollapses eventually
0.8

5
0.7

-0.5
0.7

5
0.6

0.6

5
0.5

-1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
m

Fig. by E. Sihvola

Figure 2: The age of the universe as a function of m and .

4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 44

Figure 3: Calculation of the distance-redshift relationship.

As the universe expands, this distance grows,

1 a0 1 d0
d(t) = a(t)SK (r) = SK (r) = , (42)
1+z 1+z
where d0 is the present proper distance to r, or the comoving distance to r.
Neither the distance d, nor the coordinate r of a galaxy are directly observable.
Observable quantities are, e.g., the redshift z, the angular diameter, and the appar-
ent luminosity. We want to use the FRW model to relate these observable quantities
to the coordinates and actual distances.
Let us first derive the redshift-distance relationship. We see a galaxy with redshift
z; how far is it? (We assume z is entirely due to the Hubble expansion, 1 + z =
a/a0 , i.e., we ignore the contribution from the peculiar velocity of the galaxy or the
observer).
Since for light,
dr 2
ds2 = dt2 + a2 (t) = 0, (43)
1 Kr 2
we have
Z t0 Z r
dr dt dr d d0
dt = a(t) = = = . (44)
1 Kr 2 t1 a(t) 0 1 Kr 2 a a0

The comoving distance to redshift z is thus

Z t0 Z Z
dt dt dx 1
d0 (z) = a0 = = , (45)
t1 a(t) x x dx/dt
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 45

Matter only Flat universe

2.0 2.0

1.8 1.8

1.6 1.6

1.4 1.4
distance (H0 )

distance (H0 )
-1

-1
1.2 1.2

1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
redshift redshift

Figure 4: The distance-redshift relationship, Eq. (46), for a) the matter-only universe
= 0, m = 0, 0.2,. . . ,1.8 (from top to bottom) b) the flat universe 0 = 1 ( = 1m ),
m = 0, 0.05, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.05 (from top to bottom). The thick line in both cases
is the m = 1, = 0 model.

where x a/a0 = 1/(1 + z). We have dx/dt from Eq. (32), giving
Z
dx 1
d0 (z) = p
x H0 m x1 + r x2 + x2 + (1 0 )
Z 1
1 dx
= H0 p
1
1+z
x + (1 0 )x2 + m x + r
4
Z 1
dx
H01 p
1
1+z
x4 + (1 0 )x2 + m x
Z 1
dx
= H01 p , (46)
1
1+z
0 (x x ) (x x4 ) + x2
2

where we have dropped the r term, which has negligible effect, and utilized m =
0 to get the last form. This is the distance-redshift relationship. We see
that it depends on three independent cosmological parameters, for which we have
taken H0 , 0 , and . In this parametrization, the distance at a given redshift is
proportional to the Hubble distance, H01 . If we give the distance in units of H01 ,
then it depends only on the two remaining parameters, 0 and .
If we increase 0 keeping constant (meaning that we increase m ), the dis-
tance corresponding to a given redshift decreases. This is because the universe has
expanded faster in the past (see Fig. 1), so that there is less time between a given
a = a0 /(1+ z) and the present. The distance to the galaxy with redshift z is shorter,
because photons have had less time to travel. Whereas if we increase with a fixed
0 (meaning that we decrease m ), we have the opposite situation and the distance
increases. (Note that (x x2 ) and (x x4 ) are always positive in Eq. 46).
If the galaxy has stayed at the same coordinate value r, i.e., it has no peculiar
velocity, then the comoving distance is equal to its present distance. The actual
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 46

distance to the galaxy at the time t1 the light left the galaxy is
d0 (z)
d1 (z) = . (47)
1+z
We encounter the beginning of time, t = 0, at a = 0 or z = . Thus the
comoving distance light has traveled during the entire age of the universe is
Z 1
dx
dhor = H01 p . (48)
0 x + (1 0 )x2 + m x + r
4

This distance (or the sphere with radius dhor , centered on the observer) is called
the horizon, since it represent the maximum distance we can see, or receive any
information from.
There are actually several different concepts in cosmology called the horizon. To
be exact, the one defined above is the particle horizon. Another horizon concept is
the event horizon, which is related to how far the light can travel in the future. The
Hubble distance H 1 is also often referred to as the horizon (especially when one
talks about subhorizon and superhorizon distance scales).

Distance and redshift in the flat matter-dominated universe

Let us look at the simplest case, (m , ) = (1, 0) (with r 0), in more detail.
Now Eq. (46) is just
Z 1  
dx 1
1
d0 (z) = H0 = 2H0 1
1 . (49)
1
1+z
x1/2 1+z

Expanding 1/ 1 + z = 1 21 z + 38 z 2 5 3
16 z we get

3 5
d0 (z) = H01 (z z 2 + z 3 ) (50)
4 8
so that for small redshifts, z 1 we get the Hubble law, z = H0 d0 . At the time
when the light we see left the galaxy, its distance was
 
1 1 1 1
d1 (z) = d0 (z) = a(t)r = 2H0 (51)
1+z 1 + z (1 + z)3/2
7 19
= H01 (z z 2 + z 3 ) (52)
4 8
so the Hubble law is valid for small z independent of our definition of distance.
The distance d(t) = a(t)r to the galaxy grows
with the velocity d = r a = raH,
so that today d = ra0 H0 = d0 H0 = 2(1 1/ 1 + z). This equals 1 (the speed of
light) at z = 3.
8
We note that d1 (z) has a maximum d1 (z) = 27 H01 at z = 45 (1 + z = 94 ). This
corresponds to the comoving distance d0 (z) = 32 H0 . See Fig. 6. Galaxies that are
1

further out were thus closer when the light left, since the universe was then so much
smaller.
The distance to the horizon in this simplest case is

dhor d0 (z = ) = 2H01 = 3t0 . (53)

4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 47

Horizon / H-1
0
2

no big bang

1.5

2.2
2.4
2.7

2
3
3.5
5
6

4
7

accelerating --- decelerating

0.5 open --- closed

recollapses eventually
2.4
3

-0.5
1.6
1.9

1.8
2

1.7

-1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
m

Fig. by E. Sihvola

Figure 5: The horizon as a function of m and .

4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 48

Figure 6: Spacetime diagrams for a flat universe giving a) the actual distance b) the
comoving distance from origin as a function of cosmic time.

Just like any planar map of the surface of the Earth must be distorted, so is that
of the curved spacetime. Although this simplest case has flat space, the spacetime
is curved due to the expansion. Thus any spacetime diagram is a distortion of
the true situation. In Figs. 6 and 7 there are three different ways of drawing the
same spacetime diagram. In the first one the vertical distance is proportional to the
cosmic time t, the horizontal distance to the actual distance at that time, d1 . The
second one is in the comoving coordinates (t, r), so that the horizontal distance is
proportional to the comoving distance d0 (Note that for = 1, i.e., K = 0, we have
d0 = a0 r, see Eq. (38)). The third one is in the conformal coordinates (, r), with
normalization a0 = 1. The last one has the advantage that light cones are always at
a 45 angle. This is thus the Mercator projection of spacetime.

Angular diameter distance

The distance-redshift relationship obtained above would be nice if we already knew
the values of the cosmological parameters H0 , 0 , and . We can turn the situation
around and use an observed distance-redshift relationship, to determine the cosmo-
logical parameters. But for that we need a different distance-redshift relationship,
one where the distance is replaced by some directly observable quantity.
Astronomers employ various fake, or auxiliary, distance concepts, like the an-
gular diameter distance or the luminosity distance. These would be equal to the true
distance in Euclidean non-expanding space.
To answer the question: what is the physical size of an object, whom we see
at redshift z, subtending an angle on the sky? we need the concept of angular
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 49

Figure 7: Spacetime diagram for a flat universe in conformal coordinates.

Figure 8: Defining the angular diameter distance.

diameter distance dA .
In Euclidean geometry,
s
s = d or d= . (54)

Accordingly, we define
s
dA , (55)

where s is the actual diameter of the object (the diameter it had when the light we
see left it), and is the observed angle. For large-scale structures, which expand
with the universe, we use the comoving angular diameter distance dcA s0 /, where
s0 = (1 + z)s is the comoving diameter of the structure. Thus dcA = (1 + z)dA .
Suppose we have a set of standard rulers, objects that we know are all the
same size s, observed at different redshifts. Their observed angular sizes (z) then
give us the observed angular diameter distance as dA (z) = s/(z). This can then
be compared to the theoretical dA (z) for the FRW universe to find the parameter
values which give the best fit between observation and theory.
From the RW metric, the proper distance corresponding to an angle is, from
ds2 = a2 (t)r 2 d2 s = a(t)r. Thus
a0
dA = a(t)r = r. (56)
1+z
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 50
Matter only Flat universe
2.0 2.0

1.8 1.8
angular diameter distance (H0 )

angular diameter distance (H0 )

-1

-1
1.6 1.6

1.4 1.4

1.2 1.2

1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
redshift redshift

Figure 9: The angular diameter distance -redshift relationship, Eq. (58), for a) the matter-
only universe = 0, m = 0, 0.2,. . . ,1.8 (from top to bottom) b) the flat universe 0 = 1
( = 1 m ), m = 0, 0.05, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.05 (from top to bottom). The thick
line in both cases is the m = 1, = 0 model. Note how the angular diameter distance
decreases for large redshifts, meaning that the object that is farther away may appear larger
on the sky. In the flat case, this is an expansion effect, an object with a given size occupies
a larger comoving volume in the earlier, smaller universe. In the matter-only case, the effect
is enhanced by space curvature effects for the closed (m > 1) models.

We know (see Eq. 38) that the coordinate r is related to the comoving distance d0
by
r = SK (d0 /a0 ), (57)
and using the distance-redshift relationship, Eq. (46), we have the final result
 Z 1 
a0 1 dx
dA (z) = SK p , (58)
1+z a0 H0 1 0 (x x2 ) (x x4 ) + x2
1+z

for the angular diameter distance, and

 Z 1 
c 1 dx
dA (z) = a0 SK p , (59)
a0 H0 1 0 (x x2 ) (x x4 ) + x2 1+z

for the comoving angular diameter distance.

For a flat universe the comoving angular diameter distance is equal to the co-
moving distance,
Z 1
c 1 dx
dA (z) = d0 (z) = H0 p . (60)
1
1+z
0 (x x ) (x x4 ) + x2
2

For the open/closed case, we can write Eq. (59) as

r r Z 
c 1 K 0 1 1 dx
dA (z) = H0 SK p
0 1 K 1 0 (x x2 ) (x x4 ) + x2
1+z
 Z 1 
H01 p dx
= p Sk |0 1| p , (61)
|0 1| 1
1+z
0 (x x2 ) (x x4 ) + x2

eliminating the apparent dependence on the normalization-dependent quantity a0 .

4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 51
Matter only Flat universe
2.0 2.0
comoving angular diameter distance (H0 )

comoving angular diameter distance (H0 )

-1

-1
1.8 1.8

1.6 1.6

1.4 1.4

1.2 1.2

1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
redshift redshift

Figure 10: Same as Fig. 9, bur for the comoving angular diameter distance. Now the
expansion effect is eliminated. For the closed models (for m > 1 in the case of = 0)
even the comoving angular diameter distance may begin to decrease at large enough redshifts.
This happens when we are looking beyond = /2, where the universe begins to close
up. The figure does not go to high enough z to show this for the parameters used. Note
how for the flat universe the comoving angular diameter distance is equal to the comoving
distance (see Fig. 4).

We shall later (in Cosmology II) use the angular diameter distance to relate the
observed anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background to the physical length
scale of the density fluctuations they represent. Since this length scale can be calcu-
lated from theory, their observed angular size gives us information of the cosmological
parameters.

Luminosity distance
In transparent Euclidean space, an object whose distance is d and whose absolute
luminosity (radiated power) is L would have an apparent luminosity l = L/4d2 .
Thus we define the luminosity distance of an object as
r
L
dL . (62)
4l
Consider the situation in the FRW universe. The absolute luminosity can be
expressed as:
number of photons emitted N Eem
L= their average energy = . (63)
time tem
If the observer is at a coordinate distance r from the source, the photons have
at that distance spread over an area

A = 4a20 r 2 . (64)

The apparent luminosity can be expressed as:

number of photons observed N Eobs
l= their average energy = . (65)
area time tobs A
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 52
Matter only Flat universe
10 10

9 9

8 8
luminosity distance (H0 )

luminosity distance (H0 )

-1

-1
7 7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
redshift redshift

Figure 11: Same as Fig. 9, bur for the luminosity distance. Note how the vertical scale now
extends to 10 Hubble distances instead of just 2, to have room for the much more rapidly
increasing luminosity distance.

The number of photons N is conserved, but their energy is redshifted, Eobs =

Eem /(1 + z). Also, if the source is at redshift z, it takes a factor 1 + z longer to
receive the photons tobs = (1 + z)tem . Thus,
N Eobs N Eem 1 1
l = = . (66)
tobs A tem (1 + z)2 4a20 r 2
From Eq. (62),
r
L
dL = (1 + z)a0 r
4l
r r Z 1 
1 K 0 1 dx
= (1 + z)H0 SK p
0 1 K 1 0 (x x2 ) (x x4 ) + x2
1+z

= (1 + z)2 dA (z) = (1 + z)dcA (z) . (67)

Compared to the angular diameter distance, dA (z), we have two extra redshift
factors 1 + z, one from the redshift of photon energy, one from the cosmological
time dilation in receiving the emitted radiation, both contributing to making large-
redshift objects dimmer.
Suppose now that we have a set of standard candles, objects that we know all
have the same L. From there observed redshifts and apparent luminosities
p we then
get an observed luminosity-distance-redshift relationship dL (z) = L/4l, which
can then be compared to the theoretical one to find the values of the cosmological
parameters which give the best fit between theory and observations.
As we discussed in Chapter 2, astronomers have the habit of giving luminosities
as magnitudes. From the definitions of the absolute and apparent magnitude,
L l
M 2.5 lg , m 2.5 lg , (68)
L0 l0
and Eq. (62), we have that the distance modulus m M is given by the luminosity
distance as
l L0 l0
m M = 2.5 lg = 5 lg dL + 2.5 lg 4 = 5 + 5 lg dL (pc) . (69)
L l0 L0
4 FRIEDMANNROBERTSONWALKER UNIVERSE 53
Matter only Flat universe
5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2
magnitude

magnitude
1 1

0 0

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3 -3

-4 -4

-5 -5
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
redshift redshift

Figure 12: Same as Fig. 9, bur for the magnitude-redshift relationship. The constant
M 5 5 lg H0 in Eq. (70), which is different for different classes of standard candles, has
been arbitrarily set to 0.

(As explained in Chapter 2, the constants L0 and l0 are chosen so as to give the
value 5 for the constant term, when dL is given in parsecs.) For a set of standard
candles, all having the same absolute magnitude M , we find that their apparent
magnitudes m should be related to their redshift z as

m(z) = M 5 + 5 lg dL (pc)
( r
K
= M 5 5 lg H0 + 5 lg (1 + z)
0 1
r Z 1 )
0 1 dx
SK p (70)
K 1 0 (x x2 ) (x x4 ) + x2
1+z

We find that the Hubble constant H0 contributes only to a constant term in this
magnitude-redshift relationship. If we just know that all the objects have the same
M , but do not know the value of M , we cannot use the observed m(z) to determine
H0 , since both M and H0 contribute to this constant term. On the other hand, the
shape of the m(z) curve depends only on the two parameters 0 and .
Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) are fairly good standard candles. Two groups, the
Supernova Cosmology Project4 and the High-Z Supernova Search Team 5 have been
using observations of such supernovae up to redshifts z 1 to try to determine the
values of the cosmological parameters 0 and .
In 1998 they announced [1, 2] that their observations are inconsistent with a
matter-dominated universe, i.e., with = 0. In fact their observations required
that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. This result was named the Break-
through of the Year by the Science magazine [3]. Later more accurate observations
by these and other groups have confirmed this result. This SNIa data is one of the
main arguments for the existence of dark energy in the universe.6 See Fig. 14 for
4
http://supernova.lbl.gov/
5
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/supernova/HighZ.html,
http://www.nu.to.infn.it/exp/all/hzsnst/
6
The other main argument comes from combining CMB anisotropy and large-scale-structure
data, and will be discussed in Cosmology II.
REFERENCES 54

relative difference in m(z)

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4
m

0.2

0.0

-0.2

-0.4

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
redshift

Figure 13: The difference between the magnitude-redshift relationship of the different
models in Fig. 12 from the reference model m = 1, = 0 (which appears as the horizontal
thick line). The red (solid) lines are for the matter-only ( = 0) models and the blue
(dashed) lines are for the flat (0 = 1) models.

SNIa data from 2004, and Fig. 15 for a determination of m and from this data.
As you can see, the present data is not good enough for a simultaneous accurate
determination of both m and . But by assuming a flat universe, 0 = 1, Riess
et al. [4] find = 0.71+0.03 +0.05
0.05 ( m = 0.290.03 ). (The main evidence for a flat
universe, 0 1 comes from the CMB anisotropy, which we shall discuss later.)
We have in the preceding assumed that the mysterious dark energy component
of the universe is vacuum energy, or indistinguishable from a cosmological constant,
so that pde = de . Making the assumption7 that the equation-of-state parameter
wde pde /de for dark energy is a constant, but not necessarily equal to 1, Riess
et al. [4] find the limits 1.48 < wde < 0.72, when they assume a flat universe,
and use an independent limit on m from other cosmological observations.

References
[1] A.G. Riess et al., Astron. J. 116, 1009 (1998)

[2] S. Perlmutter et al., Astrophys. J. 517, 565 (1999)

[3] J. Glantz, Science 282, 2156 (18 Dec 1998)

[4] A.G. Riess et al., Astrophys. J. 607, 665 (2004), astro-ph/0402512

7
There is no particular theoretical justification for this assumption. It is just done for simplicity
since the present data is not good enough for determining a larger number of free parameters in
the dark-energy equation of state to a meaningful accuracy.
REFERENCES 55

1.0

0.5
(m-M) (mag)

0.0

-0.5

Ground Discovered
-1.0 HST Discovered
.0)
.0) (+ M=1
M=1 on ~ z,
ay du
st (+ Evoluti
z gr
0.5
high-
(m-M) (mag)

0.0

M =1.0
-0.5
Empty (=0) , =0
.0
M=0.27, =0.73
"replenishing" gray Dust
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
z

Figure 14: The Supernova Ia luminosity-redshift data. The top panel shows all supernova
of the data set. The bottom panel show the averages from different redshift bins. The
curves corresponds to three different FRW cosmologies, and some alternative explanations:
dust refers to the possibility that the universe is not transparent, but some photons get
absorbed on the way; evolution to the possibility that the SNIa are not standard candles,
but were different in the younger universe, so that M = M (z). This Figure is from Riess et
al., astro-ph/0402512 [4].
REFERENCES 56

3 ng
Ba
g
Bi
o
N

2
-0.5
q 0=

0
q 0=

1 ting
c e lera
Ac
.3%

g
atin 0. 5
eler q 0=
4% 68

D e c
% 95.
.7
99

Expands to Infinity
0 ^
Cl Recollapses =0
os
ed
Op
en

to
t =1

-1
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
M

Figure 15: m and determined from the Supernova Ia data. The dotted contours are
the old 1998 results[1]. This Figure is from Riess et al., astro-ph/0402512 [4].