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Cosmological Perturbations

The aim of these lecture notes is to familiarize graduate students and beginning postgraduates with the basic ideas of linear cosmological perturbation theory and of structure formation scenarios. We present both the Newtonian and the general relativistic approaches, derive the key equations and then apply them to a number of characteristic cases. The gauge problem in cosmology and ways to circumvent it are also discussed. We outline the basic framework of the baryonic and the non-baryonic structure formation scenarios and point out their strengths and shortcomings. Fundamental concepts, such as the Jeans length, Silk damping and collisionless dissipation, are highlighted and the underlying mathematics are presented in a simple and straightforward manner.