Probing the Primordial Universe with Galaxy Clustering and Shapes

One of the primary goals of cosmology is to elucidate the origin of
structure in the Universe. The currently most widely accepted paradigm
is the theory of inflation - an epoch of extremely rapid expansion at
a very early phase in the history of the Universe. A significant
effort in cosmology is directed toward testing this hypothesis. I will
show how we can use the clustering of galaxies, as well as statistics
of their observed shapes, to learn about the physics of inflation, as
well as alternative scenarios. This provides a fascinating connection
between the largest observable scales in the cosmos and physics at
energies far beyond the reach of accelerators on Earth.