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| Local Void | |
|---|---|
| Name | Local Void |
| Type | Void |
| Constellation | Virgo Supercluster region |
| Distance | ~20–150 Mly (nearest edge ~20 Mly) |
| Discovered | 1987 |
| Notable | Affecting Local Group motion |
Local Void
The Local Void is a nearby underdense region in the large-scale structure of the Universe that influences the motion of the Local Group, the distribution of nearby galaxys, and measurements tied to the Cosmic Microwave Background. Observational campaigns by teams at institutions such as the University of Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory have mapped its extent using surveys including the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project. Studies published in journals associated with the American Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society have linked the Void to peculiar velocity flows measured relative to reference frames like the Cosmic Microwave Background dipole and the Local Sheet.
The Void occupies a region adjacent to structures such as the Virgo Cluster, the Local Supercluster, and the Sculptor Group, producing an observable paucity of bright spiral galaxys, elliptical galaxys, and dwarf systems cataloged by projects like the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database and the Anglo-Australian Observatory surveys. Its study intersects with work by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and the California Institute of Technology, and relates to theoretical frameworks developed at institutes such as the Institute for Advanced Study and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology. The Void plays a role in calibrating distance ladders established by teams using Cepheid variables, Type Ia supernovae, and surface brightness fluctuation techniques associated with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Initial recognition of the Void followed redshift surveys led by astronomers connected to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of Hawaii; formal descriptions appeared in literature by authors affiliated with the University of Cambridge and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Evidence arises from mapping efforts like the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, the 6dF Galaxy Survey, and targeted observations using the Parkes Observatory and the Green Bank Telescope. Peculiar velocity analyses drawing on work from the CosmicFlows project, the Two Micron All-Sky Redshift Survey, and studies by researchers at the Leiden Observatory demonstrate coherent outflow signatures and anisotropies referenced against the Cosmic Microwave Background measured by missions such as COBE and WMAP.
Estimates of the Void’s size vary in analyses by teams at the University of Hawaii, the University of Chicago, and the University of Tokyo, with published figures ranging from tens to over a hundred million light-years, bounded by features like the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster filaments and the Local Filament. Surveys from the 2MASS Redshift Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey provide galaxy number-density contrasts used by groups at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the Johns Hopkins University to quantify underdensity. Void topology studies use algorithms developed in collaborations involving the Harvard & Smithsonian and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris to delineate walls and minivoids adjacent to known systems such as the M81 Group, the Centaurus A/M83 Group, and the Leo I Group.
The Void’s origin is interpreted through paradigms advanced at the Princeton University cosmology group and the University of California, Berkeley, drawing on simulations run on supercomputers at the Argonne National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Numerical experiments using codes like those developed by the Millennium Simulation team and groups at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics reproduce voids via gravitational instability in a Lambda-CDM cosmology, with theoretical input from researchers at the Perimeter Institute and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at University of California, Santa Barbara. Connections to early-Universe physics explored by teams at the CERN theory division and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory consider how processes like baryon acoustic oscillations and dark energy parameterizations influence void statistics measured by the Dark Energy Survey and forthcoming missions from the European Space Agency.
The Void contributes to the peculiar velocity of the Local Group relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background dipole, a phenomenon investigated by observational groups at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Studies led by researchers at the University of Hawaii and the Carnegie Observatories correlate the Void-induced flow with motions of the Milky Way, Andromeda Galaxy, and nearby dwarfs cataloged in the Local Volume Legacy survey. Analyses by teams at the University of Groningen and the University of Leiden compare tidal influences from massive attractors such as the Great Attractor and the Void’s repulsive relative underdensity effect modeled in works from the Institute for Computational Cosmology.
Measurement approaches employ redshift mapping pioneered in programs like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and distance indicators refined by teams at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Carnegie Institution for Science. Peculiar velocity reconstructions use datasets compiled by the CosmicFlows initiative and techniques developed at the University of Warsaw and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Radio observations from the Arecibo Observatory and the MeerKAT array complement optical surveys from the European Southern Observatory and the Keck Observatory to detect HI-rich dwarfs and quantify void galaxy populations; statistical tools from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the Flatiron Institute apply reconstruction algorithms and machine learning pipelines.
Outstanding issues include precise boundary definition pursued by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument consortium, the impact of the Void on local Hubble constant determinations debated between teams at the SH0ES collaboration and proponents from the Planck mission analyses, and the role of low-surface-brightness galaxies investigated by the Dragonfly Telephoto Array group and the Lowell Observatory. Upcoming facilities like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the Euclid mission, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will enable deeper mapping by collaborations spanning the Max Planck Society, NASA, and the European Space Agency, while theoretical advances from the Simons Foundation and the Kavli Foundation supported groups will refine cosmological interpretations.
Category:Cosmic voids