Was there more galaxy clustering in early Universe?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the relationship between the expansion of the Universe and galaxy clustering. It posits that while the expanding Universe increases the volume of space, it does not necessarily lead to less clustering; in fact, there may be more clustering in certain conditions. The rate of expansion influences clustering dynamics, as overdense regions can collapse if they possess sufficient mass. Conversely, a faster expansion requires more mass or smaller sizes for collapse to occur, resulting in less massive galaxies that are more distantly spaced. Overall, the interplay between expansion rate and mass distribution is complex and critical to understanding galaxy formation.
SteveDC
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Has the expansion of the Universe caused less clustering? If the expanding Universe is causing volume of space to increase, to me it would make sense that clustering would be impacted as a result of this.
 
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No, there's more clustering.
 
SteveDC said:
Has the expansion of the Universe caused less clustering? If the expanding Universe is causing volume of space to increase, to me it would make sense that clustering would be impacted as a result of this.
If there wasn't at least some expansion, then there'd be no clustering at all as the universe would just have recollapsed on itself.

The rate of expansion does have an impact on clustering, but it's not terribly simple. In essence, in an expanding universe, an overdense region will collapse in on itself if it has enough mass relative to its size. If it's too spread out, it won't collapse. If it doesn't have enough mass, it won't collapse. With a faster rate of expansion, it needs more mass or a smaller size to collapse.

So all other things being equal, in a universe that is expanding faster you'll get less massive galaxies that are further away from one another.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombination_(cosmology) Was a matter density right after the decoupling low enough to consider the vacuum as the actual vacuum, and not the medium through which the light propagates with the speed lower than ##({\epsilon_0\mu_0})^{-1/2}##? I'm asking this in context of the calculation of the observable universe radius, where the time integral of the inverse of the scale factor is multiplied by the constant speed of light ##c##.
Why was the Hubble constant assumed to be decreasing and slowing down (decelerating) the expansion rate of the Universe, while at the same time Dark Energy is presumably accelerating the expansion? And to thicken the plot. recent news from NASA indicates that the Hubble constant is now increasing. Can you clarify this enigma? Also., if the Hubble constant eventually decreases, why is there a lower limit to its value?
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