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Void (astronomy)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Structure of the Universe
Matter distribution in a cubic section of the Universe. The blue fiber structures represent the matter
(primarily dark matter) and the empty regions in between represent the cosmic voids.

Cosmic voids are vast spaces between filaments (the largest-scale structures in the Universe), which
contain very few or no galaxies. Voids typically have a diameter of 10 to 100 megaparsecs;
particularly large voids, defined by the absence of rich superclusters, are sometimes called
supervoids. They have less than one-tenth of the average density of matter abundance that is
considered typical for the observable Universe. They were first discovered in 1978 in a pioneering
study by Stephen Gregory and Laird A. Thompson at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.[1]

Voids are believed to have been formed by baryon acoustic oscillations in the Big Bang, collapses
of mass followed by implosions of the compressed baryonic matter. Starting from initially small
anisotropies from quantum fluctuations in the early Universe, the anisotropies grew larger in scale
over time. Regions of higher density collapsed more rapidly under gravity, eventually resulting in
the large-scale, foam-like structure or cosmic web of voids and galaxy filaments seen today. Voids
located in high-density environments are smaller than voids situated in low-density spaces of the
universe.[2]

Voids appear to correlate with the observed temperature of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) because of the SachsWolfe effect. Colder regions correlate with voids and hotter regions
correlate with filaments because of gravitational redshifting. As the SachsWolfe effect is only
significant if the Universe is dominated by radiation or dark energy, the existence of voids is
significant in providing physical evidence for dark energy.[3]

Contents

1 Large-scale structure
2 History and discovery
2.1 Timeline
3 Methods for finding
3.1 VoidFinder algorithm
3.2 Zone bordering on voidness (ZOBOV) algorithm
3.3 Dynamical void analysis (DIVA) algorithm
3.4 Robustness testing
4 Significance
4.1 Dark energy equation of state
4.2 Galactic formation and evolution models
4.3 Anomalies in anisotropies
4.4 Accelerating expansion of the universe
4.5 Gravitational theories
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Large-scale structure
The structure of our Universe can be broken down into components that can help describe the
characteristics of individual regions of the cosmos. These are the main structural components of the
cosmic web:

Voids vast, largely spherical[4] regions with very low cosmic mean densities, up to 100
megaparsecs (Mpc) in diameter.[5]
Walls the regions that contain the typical cosmic mean density of matter abundance. Walls can
be further broken down into two smaller structural features:
Clusters highly concentrated zones where walls meet and intersect, adding to the effective
size of the local wall.
Filaments the branching arms of walls that can stretch for tens of megaparsecs.[6]

Voids have a mean density less than a tenth of the average density of the universe. This serves as a
working definition even though there is no single agreed-upon definition of what constitutes a void.
The matter density value used for describing the cosmic mean density is usually based on a ratio of
the number of galaxies per unit volume rather than the total mass of the matter contained in a unit
volume.[7]
History and discovery

Cosmic voids as a topic of study in astrophysics began in the mid 1970s when redshift surveys
became more popular and led two separate teams of astrophysicists in 1978 to identifying
superclusters and voids in the distribution of galaxies and Abell clusters in a large region of space.
[8][9] The new redshift surveys revolutionized the field of astronomy by adding depth to the two-
dimensional maps of cosmological structure, which were often densely packed and overlapping,[5]
allowing for the first three-dimensional mapping of the Universe. In the redshift surveys, the depth
was calculated from the individual redshifts of the galaxies due to the expansion of the Universe
according to Hubble's law.[10]
Timeline

A summarized timeline of important events in the field of cosmic voids from its beginning to recent
times is listed below:

1961 Large scale structural features such as "second order clusters", a specific type of
supercluster, were brought to the astronomical community's attention.[11]
1978 The first two papers on the topic of voids in the large scale structure were published
referencing voids found in the foreground of the Coma/A1367 clusters.[8][12]
1981 Discovery of a large void in the Bootes region of the sky that was nearly 50 h1 Mpc in
diameter (which was later recalculated to be about 34 h1 Mpc).[13][14]
1983 Computer simulations sophisticated enough to provide relatively reliable results of growth
and evolution of the large scale structure emerged and yielded insight on key features of the large
scale galaxy distribution.[15][16]
1985 Details of the supercluster and void structure of the Perseus-Pisces region were surveyed.
[17]
1989 The Center for Astrophysics Redshift Survey revealed that large voids, sharp filaments,
and the walls that surround them dominate the large-scale structure of the Universe.[18]
1991 The Las Campanas Redshift Survey confirmed the abundance of voids in the large-scale
structure of the Universe (Kirshner et al. 1991).[19]
1995 Comparisons of optically selected galaxy surveys indicate that the same voids are found
regardless of the sample selection.[20]
2001 The completed two-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey adds a significantly large
amount of voids to the database of all known cosmic voids.[21]
 2009 The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data combined with previous large scale surveys
now provide the most complete view of the detailed structure of cosmic voids.[22][23]

Methods for finding

There exist a number of ways for finding voids with the results of large-scale surveys of the
Universe. Of the many different algorithms, virtually all fall into one of three general categories.
[24] The first class consists of void finders that try to find empty regions of space based on local
galaxy density.[25] The second class are those which try to find voids via the geometrical structures
in the dark matter distribution as suggested by the galaxies.[26] The third class is made up of those
finders which identify structures dynamically by using gravitationally unstable points in the
distribution of dark matter.[27] The three most popular methods through the study of cosmic voids
are listed below:
VoidFinder algorithm

This first class method uses each galaxy in a catalog as its target and then uses the Nearest Neighbor
Approximation to calculate the cosmic density in the region contained in a spherical radius
determined by the distance to the third closest galaxy.[28] El Ad & Piran introduced this method in
1997 to allow a quick and effective method for standardizing the cataloging of voids. Once the
spherical cells are mined from all of the structure data, each cell is expanded until the underdensity
returns to average expected wall density values.[29] One of the helpful features of void regions is
that their boundaries are very distinct and defined, with a cosmic mean density that starts at 10% in
the body and quickly rises to 20% at the edge and then to 100% in the walls directly outside the
edges. The remaining walls and overlapping void regions are then gridded into respectively distinct
and intertwining zones of filaments, clusters, and near-empty voids. Any overlap of more than 10%
with already known voids are considered to be subregions within those known voids. All voids
admitted to the catalog had a minimum radius of 10 Mpc in order to ensure all identified voids were
not accidentally cataloged due to sampling errors.[28]
Zone bordering on voidness (ZOBOV) algorithm

This particular second class algorithm uses a Voronoi tessellation technique and mock border
particles in order to categorize regions based on a high density contrasting border with a very low
amount of bias.[30] Neyrinck introduced this algorithm in 2008 with the purpose of introducing a
method that did not contain free parameters or presumed shape tessellations. Therefore, this
technique can create more accurately shaped and sized void regions. Although this algorithm has
some advantages in shape and size, it has been criticized often for sometimes providing loosely
defined results. Since it has no free parameters, it mostly finds small and trivial voids, although the
algorithm places a statistical significance on each void it finds. A physical significance parameter
can be applied in order to reduce the number of trivial voids by including a minimum density to
average density ratio of at least 1:5. Subvoids are also identified using this process which raises
more philosophical questions on what qualifies as a void.[31] Void finders such as VIDE[32] are
based on ZOBOV.
Dynamical void analysis (DIVA) algorithm

This third class method is drastically different from the previous two algorithms listed. The most
striking aspect is that it requires a different definition of what it means to be a void. Instead of the
general notion that a void is a region of space with a low cosmic mean density; a hole in the
distribution of galaxies, it defines voids to be regions in which matter is escaping; which
corresponds to the Dark Energy equation of state, w. Void centers are then considered to be the
maximal source of the displacement field denoted as S. The purpose for this change in definitions
was presented by Lavaux and Wandelt in 2009 as a way to yield cosmic voids such that exact
analytical calculations can be made on their dynamical and geometrical properties. This allows
DIVA to heavily explore the ellipticity of voids and how they evolve in the large-scale structure,
subsequently leading to the classification of three distinct types of voids. These three morphological
classes are True voids, Pancake voids, and Filament voids. Another notable quality is that even
though DIVA also contains selection function bias just as first class methods do, DIVA is devised
such that this bias can be precisely calibrated, leading to much more reliable results. Multiple
shortfalls of this Lagrangian-Eulerian hybrid approach exist. One example is that the resulting voids
from this method are intrinsically different than those found by other methods, which makes an all-
data points inclusive comparison between results of differing algorithms very difficult.[24]
Robustness testing

Once an algorithm is presented to find what it deems to be cosmic voids, it is crucial that its
findings approximately match what is expected by the current simulations and models of large-scale
structure. In order to perform this, the number, size, and proportion as well as other features of
voids found by the algorithm are then checked by placing mock data through a Smoothed Particle
Hydrodynamic Halo simulation, CDM model, or other reliable simulator. An algorithm is much
more robust if its data is in concordance with the results of these simulations for a range of input
criterion (Pan et al. 2011).[33]
Significance

Since so much time is being dedicated to the study of voids, the question of why they matter to the
scientific community arises. The applications of voids is broad and relatively impressive, ranging
from shedding light on the current understanding of dark energy, to refining and constraining
cosmological evolution models. Some popular applications are mentioned in detail below.
Dark energy equation of state

Voids act as bubbles in the Universe that are sensitive to background cosmological changes. This
means that the evolution of a void's shape is in part the result of the expansion of the Universe.
Since this acceleration is believed to be caused by dark energy, studying the changes of a void's
shape over a period of time can further refine the Quintessence + Cold Dark Matter (QCDM) model
and provide a more accurate dark energy equation of state.[34] Additionally the abundance of voids
is a promising way to constrain the dark energy equation of state.[35]
Galactic formation and evolution models
Large-scale structure formation
A 43x43x43 megaparsec cube shows the evolution of the large-scale structure over a logarithmic
period starting from a redshift of 30 and ending at redshift 0. The model makes it clear to see how
the matter-dense regions contract under the collective gravitational force while simultaneously
aiding in the expansion of cosmic voids as the matter flees to the walls and filaments.

Cosmic voids contain a mix of galaxies and matter that is slightly different than other regions in the
Universe. This unique mix supports the biased galaxy formation picture predicted in Gaussian
adiabatic cold dark matter models. This phenomenon provides an opportunity to modify the
morphology-density correlation that holds discrepancies with these voids. Such observations like
the morphology-density correlation can help uncover new facets about how galaxies form and
evolve on the large scale.[36] On a more local scale, galaxies that reside in voids have differing
morphological and spectral properties than those that are located in the walls. One feature that has
been found is that voids have been shown to contain a significantly higher fraction of starburst
galaxies of young, hot stars when compared to samples of galaxies in walls.[37]
Anomalies in anisotropies

Cold spots in the cosmic microwave background, such as the WMAP cold spot found by Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe, could possibly be explained by an extremely large cosmic void that
has a radius of ~120 Mpc, as long as the late integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect was accounted for in the
possible solution. Anomalies in CMB screenings are now being potentially explained through the
existence of large voids located down the line-of-sight in which the cold spots lie.[38]
Cosmic Microwave Background screening of Universe.
CMB screening of the Universe.
Accelerating expansion of the universe

Although dark energy is currently the most popular explanation for the acceleration in the
expansion of the Universe, another theory elaborates on the possibility of our galaxy being part of a
very large, not-so-underdense, cosmic void. According to this theory, such an environment could
naively lead to the demand for dark energy to solve the problem with the observed acceleration. As
more data has been released on this topic the chances of it being a realistic solution in place of the
current CDM interpretation has been largely diminished but not all together abandoned.[39]
Gravitational theories

Void regions often seem to adhere to cosmological parameters which differ from those of the known
universe. It is because of this unique feature that cosmic voids make for great laboratories to study
the effects that gravitational clustering and growth rates have on local galaxies and structure when
the cosmological parameters have different values from the outside universe. Due to the observation
that larger voids predominantly remain in a linear regime, with most structures within exhibiting
spherical symmetry in the underdense environment; that is, the underdensity leads to near-
negligible particle-particle gravitational interactions that would otherwise occur in a region of
normal galactic density. Testing models for voids can be performed with very high accuracy. The
cosmological parameters that differ in these voids are m, , and H0.[40]