Cosmic inventory of energy densities: issues and concerns

Abstract

The dynamics of our universe is characterised by the density parameters for cosmological constant ($\Omega_V$), nonbaryonic darkmatter($\Omega_{\rm wimp}$), radiation ($\Omega_R$) and baryons ($\Omega_B$). To these parameters -- which describe the smooth background universe -- one needs to add at least another dimensionless number ($\sim 10^{-5}$) characterising the strength of primordial fluctuations in the gravitational potential, in order to ensure formation of structures by gravitational instability. I discuss several issues related to the description of the universe in terms of these numbers and argue that we do not yet have a fundamental understanding of these issues.