

The phrase ``physical cosmology'' is generally associated with
the large (galaxy and cluster) scale structure of the
post-recombination epoch where gravitational effects are modeled
approximately by Newtonian physics on an uniformly expanding,
matter dominated FLRW background. A discussion of the large scale
structure is included in this review since any viable model of
our Universe which allows a regime where strongly general
relativistic effects are important must match onto the weakly
relativistic (or Newtonian) regime. Also, since certain aspects
of this regime are directly observable, one can hope to constrain
or rule out various cosmological models and/or parameters,
including the density (
), Hubble (
km sec
Mpc
), and cosmological (
) constants.
Due to the vast body of literature on numerical simulations of
the post-recombination epoch, it is possible to mention only a
small fraction of all the published papers. Hence, the following
summary is limited to cover just a few aspects of computational
physical cosmology, and in particular those that can potentially
be used to discriminate between cosmological model parameters,
even within the realm of the standard model.


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Computational Cosmology: from the Early Universe to the
Large Scale Structure
Peter Anninos
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-1998-9
© Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. ISSN 1433-8351
Problems/Comments to
livrev@aei-potsdam.mpg.de
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