Underdense Regions Research Articles

Improving baryon acoustic oscillation measurement with the combination of cosmic voids and galaxies

ABSTRACT We develop a methodology to optimize the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) from a given galaxy sample. In our previous work, we demonstrated that one can measure BAO from tracers in underdense regions (voids). In this study, we combine the overdense and underdense tracers (galaxies and voids) to obtain better constraints on the BAO scale. To this end, we modify the de-wiggled BAO model with an additional parameter to describe both the BAO peak and the underlying exclusion pattern of void 2PCFs. We show that after applying BAO reconstruction to galaxies, the BAO peak scale of both galaxies and voids are unbiased using the modified model. Furthermore, we use a new 2PCF estimator for a multitracer analysis with galaxies and voids. In simulations, the joint sample improves by about 10 per cent the constraint for the post-reconstruction BAO peak position compared to the result from galaxies alone, which is equivalent to an enlargement of the survey volume by 20 per cent. Applying this method to the BOSS DR12 data, we have an 18 per cent improvement for the low-z sample (0.2 < z < 0.5), but a worse constraint for the high-z sample (0.5 < z < 0.75), which is consistent with statistical fluctuations for the current survey volume. Future larger samples will give more robust improvements due to less statistical fluctuations.

Cosmological test of gravity using weak lensing voids

ABSTRACT Modifications to general relativity often incorporate screening mechanisms in order to remain compatible with existing tests of gravity. The screening is less efficient in underdense regions, which suggests that cosmic voids can be a useful cosmological probe for constraining modified gravity models. In particular, weak lensing by voids has been proposed as a promising test of such theories. Usually, voids are identified from galaxy distributions, making them biased tracers of the underlying matter field. An alternative approach is to study voids identified in weak lensing maps – weak lensing voids – which have been shown to better correspond to true underdense regions. In this paper, we study the ability of weak lensing voids to detect the signatures of modified gravity. Focusing on the void abundance and weak lensing profiles, we find that both statistics are sensitive probes of gravity. These are quantified in terms of the signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) with which an LSST-like survey will be able to distinguish between different gravity models. We find that the tangential shear profiles of weak lensing voids are considerably better than galaxy voids at this, though voids have somewhat lower SNR than weak lensing peaks. The abundances of voids and peaks have, respectively, $\rm {SNR} = 50$ and 70 for a popular class of modified gravity in an LSST-like survey.

Extragalactic background light inhomogeneities and Lorentz-Invariance Violation in gamma-gamma absorption and Compton scattering

AbstractAt energies approaching the Planck energy scale 1019GeV, several quantum-gravity theories predict that familiar concepts such as Lorentz (LIV) symmetry can be broken. Such extreme energies are currently unreachable by experiments on Earth, but for photons traveling over cosmological distances the accumulated deviations from the Lorentz symmetry may be measurable using the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). To study the spectral hardening feature observed in some VHE gamma-ray blazars, we calculate the reduction of the EBL gamma-gamma opacity due to the existence of underdense regions along the line of sight to VHE -gamma ray sources and we compared with the possibility of a LIV signature. Considering the LIV effect, we found that the cosmic opacity for VHE-gamma rays with energy more than 10 TeV can be strongly reduced. I will further discuss the impact of LIV on the Compton scattering process, and how future CTA observations may open an exciting window on studies of the fundamental physics.

Environmental effects on halo abundance and weak lensing peak statistics towards large underdense regions

ABSTRACT The cosmic microwave background (CMB) contains an anomalous cold spot with a surrounding hot ring, known as the Cold Spot. Inoue & Silk proposed that this feature could be explained by postulating a supervoid: if such a large underdense region exists, then the growth of matter perturbing around the spot might differ from the average value in the Universe and the differences might affect weak lensing analysis of peak statistics. To investigate environmental effects on halo number count and peak statistics, we used a publicly available ray-tracing simulation for a box size of 2250 h−1 Mpc on a side. We found that the number count for massive haloes towards the largest underdense region in the simulation decreases and the corresponding significance of the difference, based on a cosmic average, is ≥3σ. On the basis of the results of peak statistics analysis, the number of high peaks decreases with the decrement of massive haloes, but the number of low peaks increases with the lack of matter in the line of sight. The highest significance of the decrement in peak counts in large underdense regions is 5σ in the total signal-to-noise ratio. Our result implies that environmental effects on halo abundance and weak lensing peak statistic can be used to probe the presence and properties of supervoids.

Cosmological exploitation of the size function of cosmic voids identified in the distribution of biased tracers

Abstract Cosmic voids are large underdense regions that, together with galaxy clusters, filaments and walls, build-up the large-scale structure of the Universe. The void size function provides a powerful probe to test the cosmological framework. However, to fully exploit this statistics, the void sample has to be properly cleaned from spurious objects. Furthermore, the bias of the mass tracers used to detect these regions has to be taken into account in the size function model. In our work, we test a cleaning algorithm and a new void size function model on a set of simulated dark matter halo catalogues, with different mass and redshift selections, to investigate the statistics of voids identified in a biased mass density field. We then investigate how the density field tracers’ bias affects the detected size of voids. The main result of this analysis is a new model of the size function, parametrized in terms of the linear effective bias of the tracers used, which is straightforwardly inferred from the large-scale two-point correlation function. This method is a crucial step in exploiting real surveys. The proposed size function model has been accurately calibrated on halo catalogues, and used to validate the possibility to provide forecasts on the cosmological constraints, namely on the matter density contrast, ΩM, and on the normalization of the linear matter power spectrum, σ8, at different redshifts.

Cosmicflows-3: Cosmography of the Local Void

Abstract Cosmicflows-3 distances and inferred peculiar velocities of galaxies have permitted the reconstruction of the structure of overdensities and underdensities within the volume extending to 0.05c. This study focuses on the underdense regions, particularly the Local Void that lies largely in the zone of obscuration and consequently has received limited attention. Major overdense structures that bound the Local Void are the Perseus-Pisces and Norma-Pavo-Indus filaments separated by 8500 km s−1. The void network of the universe is interconnected and void passages are found from the Local Void to the adjacent very large Hercules and Sculptor voids. Minor filaments course through voids. A particularly interesting example connects the Virgo and Perseus clusters, with several substantial galaxies found along the chain in the depths of the Local Void. The Local Void has a substantial dynamical effect, causing a deviant motion of the Local Group of 200–250 km s−1. The combined perturbations due to repulsion from the Local Void and attraction toward the Virgo Cluster account for ∼50% of the motion of the Local Group in the rest frame given by the cosmic microwave background.

Testing general relativity with the Doppler magnification effect

ABSTRACT The apparent sizes and brightnesses of galaxies are correlated in a dipolar pattern around matter overdensities in redshift space, appearing larger on their near side and smaller on their far side. The opposite effect occurs for galaxies around an underdense region. These patterns of apparent magnification induce dipole and higher multipole terms in the cross-correlation of galaxy number density fluctuations with galaxy size/brightness (which is sensitive to the convergence field). This provides a means of directly measuring peculiar velocity statistics at low and intermediate redshift, with several advantages for performing cosmological tests of general relativity (GR). In particular, it does not depend on empirically calibrated scaling relations like the Tully–Fisher and Fundamental Plane methods. We show that the next generation of spectroscopic galaxy redshift surveys will be able to measure the Doppler magnification effect with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to test GR on large scales. We illustrate this with forecasts for the constraints that can be achieved on parametrized deviations from GR for forthcoming low-redshift galaxy surveys with DESI and SKA2. Although the cross-correlation statistic considered has a lower signal-to-noise ratio than RSD, it will be a useful probe of GR since it is sensitive to different systematics.

Implications of a Time-varying Galactic Potential for Determinations of the Dynamical Surface Density

Recent studies have shown that the passage of a massive satellite through the disk of a spiral galaxy can induce vertical wobbles in the disk and produce features such as in-plane rings and phase-space spirals. Here we analyze a high-resolution N-body simulation of a live stellar disk perturbed by the recent passage of a massive dwarf galaxy that induces such perturbations. We study the implications of the phase-space structures for the estimate of the matter density through traditional Jeans modelling. The dwarf satellite excites rapid time-variations in the potential, leading to a significant bias of the local matter surface density determined through such a method. In particular, while the Jeans modelling gives reasonable estimates in the most overdense regions of the disk, we show that it tends to overestimate the dynamical surface density in underdense regions. In these regions, the phase-space spiral is indeed more marked in the surface of section of height vs. vertical velocity. This prediction can be verified with future Gaia data releases. Our finding is highly relevant for future attempts at determining the dynamical surface density of the outer Milky Way disk as a function of radius. The outer disk of the Milky Way is indeed heavily perturbed, and \textit{Gaia} DR2 data have clearly shown that such phase-space perturbations are even present locally. While our results show that traditional Jeans modelling should give reliable results in overdense regions of the disk, the important biases in underdense regions call for the development of non-equilibrium methods to estimate the dynamical matter density locally and in the outer disk.

Oscillatory migration of accreting protoplanets driven by a 3D distortion of the gas flow

Context. The dynamics of a low-mass protoplanet accreting solids is influenced by the heating torque, which was found to suppress inward migration in protoplanetary disks with constant opacities. Aims. We investigate the differences in the heating torque between disks with constant and temperature-dependent opacities. Methods. Interactions of a super-Earth-sized protoplanet with the gas disk are explored using 3D radiation hydrodynamic simulations. Results. Accretion heating of the protoplanet creates a hot underdense region in the surrounding gas, leading to misalignment of the local density and pressure gradients. As a result, the 3D gas flow is perturbed and some of the streamlines form a retrograde spiral rising above the protoplanet. In the constant-opacity disk, the perturbed flow reaches a steady state and the underdense gas responsible for the heating torque remains distributed in accordance with previous studies. If the opacity is non-uniform, however, the differences in the disk structure can lead to more vigorous streamline distortion and eventually to a flow instability. The underdense gas develops a one-sided asymmetry which circulates around the protoplanet in a retrograde fashion. The heating torque thus strongly oscillates in time and does not on average counteract inward migration. Conclusions. The torque variations make the radial drift of the protoplanet oscillatory, consisting of short intervals of alternating rapid inward and outward migration. We speculate that transitions between the positive and oscillatory heating torque may occur in specific disk regions susceptible to vertical convection, resulting in the convergent migration of multiple planetary embryos.

Constraining the Tail End of Reionization Using Lyα Transmission Spikes

Abstract We investigate Lyα transmission spikes at z > 5 in synthetic quasar spectra and discuss their connection to the properties of the intergalactic medium and their ability to constrain reionization models. We use state-of-the-art radiation-hydrodynamic simulations from the Cosmic Reionization On Computers series to predict the number of transmission spikes as a function of redshift, both in the ideal case of infinite spectral resolution and in a realistic observational setting. Transmission spikes are produced in highly ionized underdense regions located in the vicinity of UV sources. We find that most of the predicted spikes are unresolved by current observations and show that our mock spectra are consistent with observations of the quasar ULAS J1120+0641 in about 15% of the realizations. The spike height correlates with both the gas density and the ionized fraction, but the former link is erased when synthetic spectra are smoothed to realistically achievable spectral resolutions. There exists a linear relationship between spike width and the extent of the associated underdense region, with a slope that is redshift dependent. In agreement with observations, the spike transmitted flux is suppressed at small distance from bright galaxies as these reside in overdense regions. We argue that this anticorrelation can be used to constrain large-scale density modes.

Multivariate analysis of cosmic void characteristics

Abstract The aim of this study is to distinguish genuine cosmic voids, found in a galaxy catalog by the void finder ZOBOV–VIDE, from under-dense regions in a Poisson distribution of objects. For this purpose, we perform two multivariate analyses using the following physical void characteristics: volume, redshift, density contrast, minimum density, contrast significance and number of member galaxies of the void. The multivariate analyses are trained on a catalog of voids obtained from a random Poisson distribution of points, used as background, and a catalog of voids identified in a mock galaxy catalog, used as signal. The classifications are then applied to voids extracted from the Data Release 12 sample of Luminous Red Galaxies in the redshift range 0.45 ≤ z ≤ 0.7 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS BOSS DR12 CMASS). Our results show that the resulting void catalog is nearly free of contamination by Poisson noise. We also study the effect of tracer sparsity and bias on the classification efficiencies.

Non-linear evolution of the resonant drag instability in magnetized gas

Abstract We investigate, for the first time, the non-linear evolution of the magnetized ‘resonant drag instabilities’ (RDIs). We explore magnetohydrodynamic simulations of gas mixed with (uniform) dust grains subject to Lorentz and drag forces, using the gizmo code. The magnetized RDIs exhibit fundamentally different behaviour than purely acoustic RDIs. The dust organizes into coherent structures and the system exhibits strong dust–gas separation. In the linear and early non-linear regime, the growth rates agree with linear theory and the dust self-organizes into 2D planes or ‘sheets.’ Eventually the gas develops fully non-linear, saturated Alfvénic, and compressible fast-mode turbulence, which fills the underdense regions with a small amount of dust, and drives a dynamo that saturates at equipartition of kinetic and magnetic energy. The dust density fluctuations exhibit significant non-Gaussianity, and the power spectrum is strongly weighted towards the largest (box scale) modes. The saturation level can be understood via quasi-linear theory, as the forcing and energy input via the instabilities become comparable to saturated tension forces and dissipation in turbulence. The magnetized simulation presented here is just one case; it is likely that the magnetic RDIs can take many forms in different parts of parameter space.

ELUCID. VI. Cosmic Variance of the Galaxy Distribution in the Local Universe

Halo merger trees are constructed from ELUCID, a constrained $N$-body simulation in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) volume. These merger trees are used to populate dark matter halos with galaxies according to an empirical model of galaxy formation. Mock catalogs in the SDSS sky coverage are constructed, which can be used to study the spatial distribution of galaxies in the low-$z$ Universe. These mock catalogs are used to quantify the cosmic variance in the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) measured from the SDSS survey. The GSMF estimated from the SDSS magnitude-limited sample can be affected significantly by the presence of the under-dense region at $z<0.03$, so that the low-mass end of the function can be underestimated significantly. Several existing methods designed to deal with the effects of the cosmic variance in the estimate of GSMF are tested, and none is found to be able to fully account for the cosmic variance. We propose a method based on the conditional stellar mass functions in dark matter halos, which can provide an unbiased estimate of the global GSMF. The application of the method to the SDSS data shows that the GSMF has a significant upturn at $M_*< 10^{9.5} h^{-1}{\rm M}_\odot$, which has been missed in many earlier measurements of the local GSMF.

Studying the morphology of H iisodensity surfaces during reionization using Shapefinders and percolation analysis

Minkowski functionals and Shapefinders shed light on the connectedness of large-scale structure by determining its topology and morphology. We use a sophisticated code, SURFGEN2, to measure the Minkowski functionals and Shapefinders of individual clusters by modelling cluster surfaces using the 'Marching Cube 33' triangulation algorithm. In this paper, we study the morphology of simulated neutral hydrogen (HI) density fields using Shapefinders at various stages of reionization from the excursion set approach. Accompanying the Shapefinders, we also employ the 'largest cluster statistic' (LCS) to understand the percolation process. Percolation curves demonstrate that the non-Gaussianity in the HI field increases as reionization progresses. The large clusters in both the HI overdense and underdense excursion sets possess similar values of "thickness" ($T$), as well as "breadth" ($B$), but their third Shapefinder - "length" ($L$) - becomes almost proportional to their volume. The large clusters in both HI overdense and underdense segments are overwhelmingly filamentary. The 'cross-section' of a filamentary cluster can be estimated using the product of the first two Shapefinders, $T \times B$. Hence the cross sections of the large clusters at the onset of percolation do not vary much with volume and their sizes only differ in terms of their lengths. This feature appears more vividly in HI overdense regions than in underdense regions and is more pronounced at lower redshifts which correspond to an advanced stage of reionization.

Impact of the reduced speed of light approximation on ionization front velocities in cosmological simulations of the epoch of reionization

Context. Coupled radiative-hydrodynamics simulations of the epoch of reionization aim to reproduce the propagation of ionization fronts during the transition before the overlap of HII regions. Many of these simulations use moment-based methods to track radiative transfer processes using explicit solvers and are therefore subject to strict stability conditions regarding the speed of light, which implies a great computational cost. The cost can be reduced by assuming a reduced speed of light, and this approximation is now widely used to produce large-scale simulations of reionization. Aims. We measure how ionization fronts propagate in simulations of the epoch of reionization. In particular, we want to distinguish between the different stages of the fronts’ progression into the intergalactic medium. We also investigate how these stages and their properties are impacted by the choice of a reduced speed of light. Methods. We introduce a new method for estimating and comparing the ionization front speeds based on maps of the reionization redshifts. We applied it to a set of cosmological simulations of the reionization using a set of reduced speeds of light, and measured the evolution of the ionization front speeds during the reionization process. We only considered models where the reionization is driven by the sources created within the simulations, without potential contributions of an external homogeneous ionizing background. Results. We find that ionization fronts progress via a two-stage process, the first stage at low velocity as the fronts emerge from high density regions and a second later stage just before the overlap, during which front speeds increase close to the speed of light. For example, using a set of small 8 Mpc h−3 simulations, we find that a minimal velocity of 0.3c is able to model these two stages in this specific context without significant impact. Values as low as 0.05c can model the first low velocity stage, but limit the acceleration at later times. Lower values modify the distribution of front speeds at all times. Using another set of simulations with larger 64 Mpc h−3 volumes that better account for distant sources, we find that reduced speed of light has a greater impact on reionization times and front speeds in underdense regions that are reionized at late times and swept by radiation produced by distant sources. Conversely, the same quantities measured in dense regions with slow fronts are less sensitive to c∼ values. While the discrepancies introduced by reduced speed of light could be reduced by the inclusion of an additional UV background, we expect these conclusions to be robust in the case of simulations with reionizations driven by inner sources.

Stress-Dependent Elasticity of TiAlN Coatings

We investigate the effect of continuous vs. periodically interrupted plasma exposure during cathodic arc evaporation on the elastic modulus as well as the residual stress state of metastable cubic TiAlN coatings. Nanoindentation reveals that the elastic modulus of TiAlN grown at floating potential with continuous plasma exposure is 7%–11% larger than for coatings grown with periodically interrupted plasma exposure due to substrate rotation. In combination with X-ray stress analysis, it is evident that the elastic modulus is governed by the residual stress state. The experimental dependence of the elastic modulus on the stress state is in excellent agreement with ab initio predictions. The macroparticle surface coverage exhibits a strong angular dependence as both density and size of incorporated macroparticles are significantly lower during continuous plasma exposure. Scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy reveals the formation of underdense boundary regions between the matrix and TiN-rich macroparticles. The estimated porosity is on the order of 1% and a porosity-induced elastic modulus reduction of 5%–9% may be expected based on effective medium theory. It appears reasonable to assume that these underdense boundary regions enable stress relaxation causing the experimentally determined reduction in elastic modulus as the population of macroparticles is increased.

Do we live in an under-dense region?

According to the Cosmological Principle, matter structures and radiation are expected to be homogeneously and isotropically distributed in the universe at sufficiently large scales. An open question in observational cosmology is to estimate the size of such scale from the data. In the case of the cosmic background radiation, it seems clear that such scale corresponds to the horizon scale at matter-radiation decoupling, that is, at ∼ 1°, but the problem is still open for the size of the homogeneity scale. But, due to the growth of structures in the evolving universe the homogeneity scale depends on the redshift of the data in analyses. Here we study this problem for data in the local universe by analyzing the 21cm HI-line sources using the public catalog ALFALFA, with median redshift 〈z〉 = 0.025. We use the scaled counts-in-spheres method to establish the approximate size of the homogeneity scale in the local universe. In this analysis one compares the data sample with respect to a randomly generated homogenous sample. Defining the scale of transition to homogeneity as the scale at which the scaled counts-in-spheres estimator reaches the limiting value 1 within 1%, we find that this transition scale is rH ≃ 69 Mpc, in excellent accordance with what is expected considering that the HI-line sources come from low-mass blue galaxies which have an anti-bias b with respect to the matter fluctuation field (with b ≃ 0.48 − 0.68 depending on the composition of the sample), from which one expects a transition scale in the local universe of 56 < rH < 79 Mpc.

Grid-based calculation for perturbation theory of large-scale structure

Perturbation theory (PT) calculation of large-scale structure has been used to interpret the observed non-linear statistics of large-scale structure at the quasi-linear regime. In particular, the so-called standard perturbation theory (SPT) provides a basis for the analytical computation of the higher-order quantities of large-scale structure. Here, we present a novel, grid-based algorithm for the SPT calculation, hence named GridSPT, to generate the higher-order density and velocity fields from a given linear power spectrum. Taking advantage of the Fast Fourier Transform, the GridSPT quickly generates the nonlinear density fields at each order, from which we calculate the statistical quantities such as non-linear power spectrum and bispectrum. Comparing the density fields (to fifth order) from GridSPT with those from the full N-body simulations in the configuration space, we find that GridSPT accurately reproduces the N-body result on large scales. The agreement worsens with smaller smoothing radius, particularly for the under-dense regions where we find that 2LPT (second-order Lagrangian perturbation theory) algorithm performs well.

The XXL Survey

Context. This work is part of a series of studies focusing on the environment and the properties of the X-ray selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) population from the XXL survey. The present survey, given its large area, continuity, extensive multiwavelength coverage, and large-scale structure information, is ideal for this kind of study. Here, we focus on the XXL-South (XXL-S) field. Aims. Our main aim is to study the environment of the various types of X-ray selected AGN and investigate its possible role in AGN triggering and evolution. Methods. We studied the large-scale (&gt;1 Mpc) environment up to redshift z = 1 using the nearest neighbour distance method to compare various pairs of AGN types. We also investigated the small-scale environment (&lt;0.4 Mpc) by calculating the local overdensities of optical galaxies. In addition, we built a catalogue of AGN concentrations with two or more members using the hierarchical clustering method and we correlated them with the X-ray galaxy clusters detected in the XXL survey. Results. It is found that radio detected X-ray sources are more obscured than non-radio ones, though not all radio sources are obscured AGN. We did not find any significant differences in the large-scale clustering between luminous and faint X-ray AGN, or between obscured and unobscured ones, or between radio and non-radio sources. At local scales (&lt;0.4 Mpc), AGN typically reside in overdense regions, compared to non-AGN; however, no differences were found between the various types of AGN. A majority of AGN concentrations with two or more members are found in the neighbourhood of X-ray galaxy clusters within &lt;25–45 Mpc. Our results suggest that X-ray AGN are typically located in supercluster filaments, but they are also found in over- and underdense regions.

Impact of clumping on core-collapse supernova radiation

There is both observational and theoretical evidence that the ejecta of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) are structured. Rather than being smooth and homogeneous, the material is made of over-dense and under-dense regions of distinct composition. Here, we have explored the effect of clumping on the SN radiation during the photospheric phase using 1D non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer and an ejecta model arising from a blue-supergiant explosion (yielding a Type II-peculiar SN). Neglecting chemical segregation, we adopted a velocity-dependent volume-filling factor approach that assumes that the clumps are small but does not change the column density along any sightline. We find that clumping boosts the recombination rate in the photospheric layers, leading to a faster recession of the photosphere, an increase in bolometric luminosity, and a reddening of the SN colors through enhanced blanketing. The SN bolometric light curve peaks earlier and transitions faster to the nebular phase. On the rise to maximum, the strongest luminosity contrast between our clumped and smooth models is obtained at the epoch when the photosphere has receded to ejecta layers where the clumping factor is only 0.5 – this clumping factor may be larger in nature. Clumping is seen to have a similar influence in a Type II-Plateau SN model. As we neglected both porosity and chemical segregation, our models underestimate the true impact of clumping. These results warrant further study of the influence of clumping on the observables of other SN types during the photospheric phase.