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I am somewhat puzzled when it comes to understanding the general relationship between the cosmological redshift of a galaxy and its distance, and none of the other questions in the forum have clarified my doubt.

In particular, is there any general formula that relates the redshift z to the distance, without any approximation (such as small z)? I mention this because even though z is related to the scale factor a(t), this factor keeps changing as light propagates towards Earth. Moreover, z could be so high that the velocity would be relativistic.

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One important point to clarify is that the idea that "z could be so high that the velocity would be relativistic" doesn't really make sense from a physical perspective. Making a comparison of velocity to determine if something is relativistic requires your objects to be "local" (i.e. nearby) each other. Just because $z>1$ and therefore $v = cz > 1$ doesn't mean anything is going faster than the speed of light in its local frame.

There is a generic formula for comoving distance to a given redshift $z_1$, which can be derived from the Freedman equations:

$$d_c(z_1) = \frac{c}{H_0}\int_0^{z_1} dz \left[\Omega_r(1+z)^4+\Omega_m(1+z)^3+\Omega_k(1+z)^2+\Omega_\Lambda\right]^{-1/2}$$

where $c$ is the speed of light, $H_0$ is the local Hubble constant, $\Omega_r$ is the radiation density of the universe, $\Omega_m$ is the matter density, $\Omega_k$ is related to non-zero curvature, and $\Omega_\Lambda$ is the dark energy density. All densities are at $z=0$ (i.e. present day) and their redshift evolution is captured in the (1+z)-type factors depending on how their energy density scales with the expansion.

There are various calculators online where you can plug in your favorite numbers and calculate a comoving distance: https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/help/cosmology_calc.html

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very much! But I am a bit confused about the fact that the densities $\Omega_i$ can change during the propagation of light (obviously only for objects that are really far). Moreover, could you provide the source of the equation? I could not find this formula. $\endgroup$
    – Gorga
    Commented Apr 28 at 10:50
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    $\begingroup$ It is derived in pretty much all advanced cosmology textbooks. The first one I grabbed off my table, Weinberg Cosmology, has it on page 76. You can find PDFs of it online. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 28 at 10:57
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    $\begingroup$ These are all densities at the z=0, the redshift evolution is expressed by those (1+z) factors. I edited my answer to specify this. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 28 at 10:58

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