The Distribution of the Galaxies: Gravitational Clustering in Cosmology

Description

This topical volume examines one of the leading problems in astronomy - how galaxies cluster in our Universe. This book, first published in 2000, describes gravitational theory, computer simulations and observations related to galaxy distribution functions. It embeds distribution functions in a broader astronomical context, including other exciting contemporary topics such as correlation functions, fractals, bound clusters, topology, percolation and minimal spanning trees. Key results are derived and the necessary gravitational physics provided to ensure the book is self-contained. Throughout the book, theory, computer simulation and observation are carefully interwoven and critically compared. The book also shows how future observations can test the theoretical models for the evolution of galaxy clustering at early times in our Universe. This clear and authoritative volume is written at a level suitable for graduate students, and will be of key interest to astronomers, cosmologists, physicists and applied statisticians.

'The students should listen to this author and closely study his work.' Irish Astronomical Journal '... the approach does a great deal to make difficult ideas accessible ... I enjoyed reading this book and hope that it will bring Saslaw's ideas to a wider audience and establish their true significance.' David Matravers, General Relativity and Gravitation 'From the title of the book one could get the impression that it represents nothing but one of those many in the astrophysical literature describing the observations of galaxies and the methods to get these results. However, the present book is also mathematically well-founded, and even if one is not at all interested in any results on the distribution of galaxies, this book is worth being consulted.' H.-J. Schmidt, Zentralblatt fur Mathematik '... can be highly recommended to researchers at graduate student level and above as a near-definitive treatise on the application of distribution functions to cosmology.' J. Loveday, Contemporary Physics