Two-Component Cosmological Fluids with Gravitational Instabilities

Abstract A survey of linearized cosmological fluid equations with a number of different matter components is made. To begin with, the one-component case is reconsidered to illustrate some important mathematical and physical points rarely discussed in the literature. The work of some previous studies of two-component systems are examined and re-analyzed to point out some deficiencies of solutions, and further solutions and physical interpretation are then presented. This leads into a general two-component model with variable velocity dispersion parameters and mass density fractions of each component. The equations, applicable to both hot dark matter (HDM) and cold dark matter (CDM) universes are solved in the long wavelength limit. This region is of interest, because some modes in this range of wavenumbers are Jeans unstable. The mixture Jeans wavenumber of the two-component system is introduced and interpreted, and the solutions are discussed, particularly in comparison to analogous solutions previously derived for plasma modes. This work is applicable to that region in the early Universe (20 < z < 140), where large scale structure formation is thought to have occurred.