  The cold dark matter model has become the leading theoretical paradigm for
the formation of structure in the Universe. Together with the theory of cosmic
inflation, this model makes a clear prediction for the initial conditions for
structure formation and predicts that structures grow hierarchically through
gravitational instability. Testing this model requires that the precise
measurements delivered by galaxy surveys can be compared to robust and equally
precise theoretical calculations. Here we present a novel framework for the
quantitative physical interpretation of such surveys. This combines the largest
simulation of the growth of dark matter structure ever carried out with new
techniques for following the formation and evolution of the visible components.
We show that baryon-induced features in the initial conditions of the Universe
are reflected in distorted form in the low-redshift galaxy distribution, an
effect that can be used to constrain the nature of dark energy with next
generation surveys.
