Issues for the Next Generation of Galaxy Surveys

Abstract

I argue that the weight of the available evidence favours the conclusions that galaxies are unbiased tracers of mass, the mean mass density (excluding a cosmological constant or its equivalent) is less than the critical Einstein-de Sitter value, and an isocurvature model for structure formation offers a viable and arguably attractive model for the early assembly of galaxies. If valid these conclusions complicate our work of adding structure formation to the standard model for cosmology, but it seems sensible to pay attention to evidence.