Cosmic strings, inflationary-universe models and the formation of structure

Presents a survey of two modern cosmological scenarios-which attempt to explain the formation of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The author discusses the need for new cosmological models. He summarises the inflationary-universe scenario and explain the mechanism by which classical energy density perturbations are produced. He discusses cosmic strings and their role in galaxy formation. He analyses one particular model of galaxy formation-the model based on cosmic strings and hot dark matter-in more detail. Finally, he discusses some aspects of large-scale structure and some specific predictions from cosmic strings.