Topological Defect Models of Structure Formation After the COBE Discovery of CMB Anisotropies
Abstract
Description
The COBE satellite has discovered anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) consistent with a scale invariant spectrum of density perturbations. As reviewed in this lecture, topological defect models of structure formation generically produce such a spectrum. We give a summary of the cosmic string and global texture models, focusing on distinct observational signatures in large-scale structure surveys and in the microwave background. It is shown that the amplitude of the CMB quadrupole detected by COBE is in good agreement with the predictions of the cosmic string model.
25 pages, 10 figures (available from the author), uses phyzzx
25 pages, 10 figures (available from the author), uses phyzzx