Cosmic Structure Formation at Low and High Redshifts

The currently standard theory of cosmic structure formation posits that thepresent-day clumpy appearance of the universe developed through gravitationalamplification of the matter density fluctuations that are generated in the veryearly universe. The energy content of the univese and the basic statistics ofthe initial density field have been determined with a reasonable accuracy fromrecent observations of the cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure,and distant supernovae. It has become possible to make accurate predictionsfrom the standard model. We review the latest observations and the recentprogress in the theory of structure formation at low and high redshifts. Twopromising methods to probe large-scale matter distribution are introduced andthe future prospects are discussed. Results from state-of-the-art cosmologicalsimulations are also presented.Comment: Published in Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement. Invited talk at 19th Nishinomiya-Yukawa symposium. 27 pages, 18 figures embedde