To be published in New Worlds in Astroparticle Physics II (Faro, September 1998), eds. A. Mourao, M. Pimento, P. Sa, World Scientific, in press (1999)

For a PDF version of the article, click here.

SEVEN PARADIGMS IN STRUCTURE FORMATION

Joseph Silk

Department of Physics, Astrophysics, 1 Keble Road,
Oxford OX1 3NP, England and Departments of Astronomy and Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720

Abstract. Have we converged on the definitive model of cosmology? I present a critical assessment of the current paradigms for the evolution of large-scale structure.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

PARADIGM 1: PRIMORDIAL NUCLEOSYNTHESIS PRESCRIBES THE BARYON DENSITY

PARADIGM 2: Omega

= 1

PARADIGM 3: DENSITY FLUCTUATIONS ORIGINATED IN INFLATION

PARADIGM 4: GALAXY ROTATION CURVES ARE EXPLAINED BY HALOS OF COLD DARK MATTER

PARADIGM 5: HIERARCHICAL MERGING ACCOUNTS FOR THE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION AND THE TULLY-FISHER RELATION

PARADIGM 6: THE BULK OF THE STARS FORMED AFTER z = 2

PARADIGM 7: GALAXY SPHEROIDS FORMED VIA MERGERS

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES