Part V: Structure Formation

From Quantum Seeds to the Cosmic Web

The large-scale structure of the universe — galaxies, clusters, filaments, and voids — grew from tiny primordial perturbations amplified by gravitational instability. Linear perturbation theory describes the growth of density fluctuations in the expanding universe, while the Jeans instability criterion determines which scales collapse. The matter power spectrum P(k) and its evolution encode the history of structure formation from the linear to nonlinear regime.