Large Scale Structure of the Universe

Galaxies are not uniformly distributed in space. On large scales the Universe displays coherent structure, with galaxies residing in groups and clusters on scales of ~1-3 Mpc/h, which lie at the intersections of long filaments of galaxies that are >10 Mpc/h in length. Vast regions of relatively empty space, known as voids, contain very few galaxies and span the volume in between these structures. This observed large scale structure depends both on cosmological parameters and on the formation and evolution of galaxies. Using the two-point correlation function, one can trace the dependence of large scale structure on galaxy properties such as luminosity, color, stellar mass, and track its evolution with redshift. Comparison of the observed galaxy clustering signatures with dark matter simulations allows one to model and understand the clustering of galaxies and their formation and evolution within their parent dark matter halos. Clustering measurements can determine the parent dark matter halo mass of a given galaxy population, connect observed galaxy populations at different epochs, and constrain cosmological parameters and galaxy evolution models. This chapter describes the methods used to measure the two-point correlation function in both redshift and real space, presents the current results of how the clustering amplitude depends on various galaxy properties, and discusses quantitative measurements of the structures of voids and filaments. The interpretation of these results with current theoretical models is also presented.Comment: Invited contribution to be published in Vol. 8 of book "Planets, Stars, and Stellar Systems", Springer, series editor T. D. Oswalt, volume editor W. C. Keel, v2 includes additional references, updated to match published versio

Large Scale Structure of the Universe: Current Problems

The mean power spectrum of galaxies is compared with theoretical models. Possibilities to explain the observed power spectrum are discussed. Superclusters and voids form a quasi-regular lattice of mean cell size 120 Mpc; the main axis of the lattice is directed toward the supergalactic Y coordinate. Principal conclusions are that on scales around 100 Mpc the Universe is neither homogeneous nor isotropic and that some of the presently accepted cosmological paradigms need revision if the available observational data represent a fair sample of the Universe.Comment: 10 pages LaTeX text (sty files added), 6 PostScript Figures, submitted to Proceedings of the Meeting "The Chaotic Universe", ed. V.G.Gurzadyan and R.Ruffini, World Scientific, Singapor

Dark Energy and Large-Scale Structure of the Universe

The evolution of matter density perturbations in two-component model of the Universe consisting of dark energy (DE) and dust-like matter (M) is considered. We have analyzed it for two kinds of DE with $\omega\ne -1$: a) unperturbed energy density and b) perturbed one (uncoupled with matter). For these cases the linear equations for evolution of the gauge-invariant amplitudes of matter density perturbations are presented. It is shown that in the case of unperturbed energy density of DE the amplitude of matter density perturbations grow slightly faster than in the second case.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, submitted to the proceedings of international conference "Astronomy in Ukraine - Past, Present, Future", July 15-17, Kiev, Ukrain