THE GALAXY-GALAXY CORRELATION-FUNCTION AS AN INDICATOR OF CRITICAL PHENOMENA IN COSMOLOGY

We approximate the observable Universe by a collection of equal mass g alaxies linked into a many body system by their mutual gravitational i nteraction, Under the assumptions of (i) nonrelativistic approximation and (ii) global quasi-equilibrium, the partition function of this sys tem can be cast in terms of Ising model spin variables and maps exactl y onto a three-dimensional scalar classical field theory, The full mac hinery of the renormalization group and critical phenomena is brought to bear on this field theory allowing one to calculate the galaxy to-g alaxy correlation function, whose critical exponent is predicted to be between 1.530 to 1.862, to be compared to the phenomenological/observ ational value of 1.6 to 1.8.