We estimate the degree to which the baryon density , \Omega _ { b } , can be determined from the galaxy power spectrum measured from large scale galaxy redshift surveys , and in particular , the Sloan Digital Sky Survey .
A high baryon density will cause wiggles to appear in the power spectrum , which should be observable at the current epoch .
We assume linear theory on scales \geq 20 h ^ { -1 } { Mpc } and do not include the effects of redshift distortions , evolution , or biasing .
With an optimum estimate of P ( k ) to k \sim 2 \pi / ( 20 h ^ { -1 } { Mpc } ) , the 1 \sigma uncertainties in \Omega _ { b } are roughly 0.07 and 0.016 in flat and open ( \Omega _ { 0 } = 0.3 ) cosmological models , respectively .
This result suggests that it should be possible to test for consistency with big bang nucleosynthesis estimates of \Omega _ { b } if we live in an open universe .