Dark matter, galaxies, and large scale structure in the universe
These lectures aim to present an essentially self-contained introduction to current research on the nature of the cosmological dark matter and the origin of galaxies, clusters, superclusters and voids. The first lecture reviews the observational data and introduces a tentative theoretical framework within which it can be interpreted: gravitational collapse of fluctuations as the origin of structure in an expanding universe. The second lecture summarizes general relativistic cosmology, reviews the data on the basic cosmological parameters (t/sub 0/, H/sub 0/, and OMEGA/sub 0/), and introduces the theory of the growth and collapse of fluctuations. It also includes a brief exposition of the idea of cosmological inflation, and a briefer critique of a proposal to modify gravity as an alternative to dark matter. The third and fourth lectures are about dark matter. Arguments that it is nonbaryonic are summarized, and the standard astrophysical classification of varieties of dark matter is introduced: hot (free streaming erases all but supercluster-size fluctuations), warm (free streaming erases fluctuations smaller than large galaxies), and cold (free streaming is cosmologically unimportant). The various particle physics candidates for dark matter are reviewed, together with possible tests that could constrain or eliminate them. Given a primordial spectrum of fluctuations, perhaps generated during an epoch of inflation, the subsequent evolution of this spectrum depends mainly on the free streaming length and on whether the fluctuations are adiabatic or isothermal. This evolution is discussed in some detail, both in the linear (delta rho/rho much less than 1) and nonlinear regimes. 259 references, 42 figures.
- Research Organization:
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, CA (USA); California Univ., Santa Cruz (USA). Inst. for Particle Physics
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 5959722
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-PUB-3387; CONF-8406212-3; ON: DE85008053
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International school of physics ''Enrico Fermi'', Varenna, Italy, 18 Jun 1984; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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