The Zeldovich & Adhesion approximations, and applications to the local universe

Abstract: The Zeldovich approximation (ZA) predicts the formation of a web of singularities. While these singularities may only exist in the most formal interpretation of the ZA, they provide a powerful tool for the analysis of initial conditions. We present a novel method to find the skeleton of the resulting cosmic web based on singularities in the primordial deformation tensor and its higher order derivatives. We show that the A_3-lines predict the formation of filaments in a two-dimensional model. We continue with applications of the adhesion model to visualise structures in the local (z < 0.03) universe.