ASTROPHYSICS THE SELF-ORGANIZING UNIVERSE

The most recently completed redshift surveys, such as 2dFGRS, reveal spectacularly complex structures in galaxy distribution. These structures are described in terms of filaments, clusters and voids and are usually characterized by using fractal geometry language. In this paper it is shown that the fractal dimension of the large scale distribution of galaxies presents scaling behavior well described by a Verhulst-type law. This result is in agreement with the idea that the Universe we observe today is a self-structured system which emerges from a nonlinear self-organizing phenomenon. Key words: large scale structure, cosmology, structures formation, nonlinear phenomena. 1