The Power Spectrum of Galaxy Density Fluctuations: Current Results and Improved Techniques

The power spectrum of density fluctuations measured from galaxy redshift surveys provides important constraints on models for the formation of large-scale structure. I review current results for the 3-D power spectrum and examine the limitations of current measurements and estimation techniques. To span the decade of wavelength between the scales probed by galaxy surveys and COBE, measure the detailed shape of the power spectrum, and accurately examine the dependence of clustering on galaxy species, we require deeper samples with carefully controlled selection criteria and improved techniques for power spectrum estimation. I describe a new method for estimating the power spectrum that optimally treats survey data with arbitrary geometry and sampling.