The formation of galaxies and quasars in a texture-seeded cold dark matter cosmogony

The non-Gaussian perturbations produced by global texture lead to the early formation of stars, quasars, and galaxies. We calculate growth of the density fluctuation in cold dark matter (CDM) induced by the unwinding of a texture "knot" and determine the evolution of the mass multiplicity function in this galaxy formation model. By z ∼ 50, ∼3% of the mass of the universe has formed nonlinear objects of mass greater than 10⁶ M_⊙ - these objects may have reionized the universe. Most objects larger than 10¹² M_⊙ form by z ∼ 2-3, consistent with the observed epoch of QSO formation. Today, ∼35% of the mass of the universe is in bound objects of mass greater than 10¹² M_⊙. We find that the slope and the amplitude of the multiplicity function is consistent with the observed galaxy luminosity function.