Erwin Platen

A cosmic watershed : the WVF void detection technique

On megaparsec scales the Universe is permeated by an intricate filigree of clusters, filaments, sheets and voids, the cosmic web. For the understanding of its dynamical and hierarchical history it is crucial to identify objectively its complex morphological components. One of the most characteristic aspects is that of the dominant underdense voids, the product of a hierarchical process driven by the collapse of minor voids in addition to the merging of large ones. In this study we present an objective void finder technique which involves a minimum of assumptions about the scale, structure and shape of voids. Our void finding method, the watershed void finder (WVF), is based upon the watershed transform, a well-known technique for the segmentation of images. Importantly, the technique has the potential to trace the existing manifestations of a void hierarchy. The basic watershed transform is augmented by a variety of correction procedures to remove spurious structure resulting from sampling noise. This study contains a detailed description of the WVF. We demonstrate how it is able to trace and identify, relatively parameter free, voids and their surrounding (filamentary and planar) boundaries. We test the technique on a set of kinematic Voronoi models, heuristic spatial models for a cellular distribution of matter. Comparison of the WVF segmentations of low-noise and high-noise Voronoi models with the quantitatively known spatial characteristics of the intrinsic Voronoi tessellation shows that the size and shape of the voids are successfully retrieved. WVF manages to even reproduce the full void size distribution function.

The Aspen–Amsterdam void finder comparison project

Despite a history that dates back at least a quarter of a century studies of voids in the large–scale structure of the Universe are bedevilled by a major problem: there exist a large number of quite different void–finding algorithms, a fact that has so far got in the way of groups comparing their results without worrying about whether such a comparison in fact makes sense. Because of the recent increased interest in voids, both in very large galaxy surveys and in detailed simulations of cosmic structure formation, this situation is very unfortunate. We here present the first systematic comparison study of thirteen different void finders constructed using particles, haloes, and semi– analytical model galaxies extracted from a subvolume of the Millennium simulation. The study includes many groups that have studied voids over the past decade. We show their results and discuss their differences and agreements. As it turns out, the basic results of the various methods agree very well with each other in that they all locate a major void near the centre of our volume. Voids have very underdense centres, reaching below 10 percent of the mean cosmic density. In addition, those void finders that allow for void galaxies show that those galaxies follow similar trends. For example, the overdensity of void galaxies brighter than mB = 20 is found to be smaller than about 0.8 by all our void finding algorithms.

The Spine of the Cosmic Web

We present the SpineWeb framework for the topological analysis of the Cosmic Web and the identification of its walls, filaments, and cluster nodes. Based on the watershed segmentation of the cosmic density field, the SpineWeb method invokes the local adjacency properties of the boundaries between the watershed basins to trace the critical points in the density field and the separatrices defined by them. The separatrices are classified into walls and the spine, the network of filaments and nodes in the matter distribution. Testing the method with a heuristic Voronoi model yields outstanding results. Following the discussion of the test results, we apply the SpineWeb method to a set of cosmological N-body simulations. The latter illustrates the potential for studying the structure and dynamics of the Cosmic Web.

The Void Galaxy Survey: Optical Properties and H I Morphology and Kinematics

We have carefully selected a sample of 60 galaxies that reside in the deepest underdensities of geometrically identified voids within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. HI imaging of 55 galaxies with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope reveals morphological and kinematic signatures of ongoing interactions and gas accretion. We probe a total volume of 485 Mpc(3) within the voids, with an angular resolution of 8 kpc at an average distance of 85 Mpc. We reach column density sensitivities of 5 x 10(19) cm(-2), corresponding to an HI mass limit of 3 x 10(8) M-circle dot. We detect HI in 41 galaxies, with total masses ranging from 1.7 x 10(8) to 5.5 x 10(9) M-circle dot. The upper limits on the 14 non-detections are not inconsistent with their luminosities, given their expected HI mass-to-light ratios. We find that the void galaxies are generally gas-rich, low-luminosity, blue disk galaxies, with optical and HI properties that are not unusual for their luminosity and morphology. The sample spans a range of absolute magnitudes (-16.1 > M-r > -20.4) and colors (0.06 <g - r <0.87), and includes disk and irregular galaxies. We also identify three as early-type galaxies, all of which are not detected in HI. All galaxies have stellar masses less than 3 x 10(10) M-circle dot, and many have kinematic and morphological signs of ongoing gas accretion, suggesting that the void galaxy population is still in the process of assembling. The small-scale clustering in the void, within 600 kpc and 200 km s(-1), is similar to that in higher density regions, and we identify 18 HI-rich neighboring galaxies in the voids. Most are within 100 kpc and 100 km s(-1) of the targeted galaxy, and we find no significant population of HI-rich low-luminosity galaxies filling the voids, contrary to what is predicted by simulations.

Only the Lonely: H I Imaging of Void Galaxies

Void galaxies, residing within the deepest underdensities of the Cosmic Web, present an ideal population for the study of galaxy formation and evolution in an environment undisturbed by the complex processes modifying galaxies in clusters and groups, as well as provide an observational test for theories of cosmological structure formation. We have completed a pilot survey for the H I imaging aspects of a new Void Galaxy Survey (VGS), imaging 15 void galaxies in H I in local (d <100 Mpc) voids. H I masses range from 3.5 x 10(8) to 3.8 x 10(9) M-circle dot, with one nondetection with an upper limit of 2.1 x 10(8) M-circle dot. Our galaxies were selected using a structural and geometric technique to produce a sample that is purely environmentally selected and uniformly represents the void galaxy population. In addition, we use a powerful new backend of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope that allows us to probe a large volume around each targeted galaxy, simultaneously providing an environmentally constrained sample of fore-and background control samples of galaxies while still resolving individual galaxy kinematics and detecting faint companions in H I. This small sample makes up a surprisingly interesting collection of perturbed and interacting galaxies, all with small stellar disks. Four galaxies have significantly perturbed H I disks, five have previously unidentified companions at distances ranging from 50 to 200 kpc, two are in interacting systems, and one was found to have a polar H I disk. Our initial findings suggest void galaxies are a gas-rich, dynamic population which present evidence of ongoing gas accretion, major and minor interactions, and filamentary alignment despite the surrounding underdense environment.

Alignment of voids in the cosmic web

We investigate the shapes and mutual alignment of voids in the large scale matter distribution of aCDM cosmology simulation. The voids are identified using the novel WVF void finder technique. The identified voids are quite nonspherical and slightly prolate, with axis ratios in the order of c : b : a � 0.5 : 0.7 : 1. Their orientations are strongly correlated with significant alignments spanning scales > 30h 1 Mpc. We also find an intimate link between the cosmic tidal field and the void orien- tations. Over a very wide range of scales we find a coherent and strong alignment of the voids with the tidal field computed from the smoothed density distribution. This orientation-tide alignment remains significant on scales exceeding twice the typical void size, which shows that the long range external field is responsible for the align- ment of the voids. This confirms the view that the large scale tidal force field is the main agent for the large scale spatial organization of the Cosmic Web.

Cosmic Voids: structure, dynamics and galaxies

In this contribution we review and discuss several aspects of Cosmic Voids. Voids are a major component of the large scale distribution of matter and galaxies in the Universe. Their instrumental importance for understanding the emergence of the Cosmic Web is clear. Their relatively simple shape and structure makes them into useful tools for extracting the value of a variety cosmic parameters, possibly including even that of the influence of dark energy. Perhaps most promising and challenging is the issue of the galaxies found within their realm. Not only does the pristine environment of voids provide a promising testing ground for assessing the role of environment on the formation and evolution of galaxies, the dearth of dwarf galaxies may even represent a serious challenge to the standard view of cosmic structure formation.

Unfolding the Hierarchy of Voids

We present a framework for the hierarchical identification and characterization of voids based on the Watershed Void Finder. The Hierarchical Void Finder is based on a generalization of the scale space of a density field invoked in order to trace the hierarchical nature and structure of cosmological voids. At each level of the hierarchy, the watershed transform is used to identify the voids at that particular scale. By identifying the overlapping regions between watershed basins in adjacent levels, the hierarchical void tree is constructed. Applications on a hierarchical Voronoi model and on a set of cosmological simulations illustrate its potential.

POLAR DISK GALAXY FOUND IN WALL BETWEEN VOIDS

We have found an isolated polar disk galaxy in what appears to be a cosmological wall situated between two voids. This void galaxy is unique as its polar disk was discovered serendipitously in an H I survey of SDSS void galaxies, with no optical counterpart to the H I polar disk. Yet the H I mass in the disk is comparable to the stellar mass in the galaxy. This suggests slow accretion of the H I material at a relatively recent time. There is also a hint of a warp in the outer parts of the H I disk. The central, stellar disk appears relatively blue, with faint near-UV emission, and is oriented (roughly) parallel to the surrounding wall, implying gas accretion from the voids. The considerable gas mass and apparent lack of stars in the polar disk, coupled with the general underdensity of the environment, supports recent theories of cold flow accretion as an alternate formation mechanism for polar disk galaxies.

Structural analysis of the SDSS Cosmic Web – I. Non-linear density field reconstructions

This study is the first in a series in which we analyse the structure and topology of the Cosmic Web as traced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The main issue addressed in the present study is the translation of the irregularly distributed discrete spatial data in the galaxy redshift survey into a representative density field. The density field will form the basis for a statistical, topological and cosmographic study of the cosmic density field in our Local Universe. We investigate the ability of three reconstruction techniques to analyse and investigate web-like features and geometries in a discrete distribution of objects. The three methods are the linear Delaunay Tessellation Field Estimator (DTFE), its higher order equivalent Natural Neighbour Field Estimator (NNFE) and a version of the Kriging interpolation adapted to the specific circumstances encountered in galaxy redshift surveys, the Natural Lognormal Kriging technique. DTFE and NNFE are based on the local geometry defined by the Voronoi and Delaunay tessellations of the galaxy distribution. The three reconstruction methods are analysed and compared using mock magnitude- and volume-limited SDSS redshift surveys, obtained on the basis of the Millennium simulation. We investigate error trends, biases and the topological structure of the resulting fields, concentrating on the void population identified by the Watershed Void Finder. Environmental effects are addressed by evaluating the density fields on a range of Gaussian filter scales. Comparison with the void population in the original simulation yields the fraction of false void mergers and false void splits. In most tests DTFE, NNFE and Kriging have largely similar density and topology error behaviour. Cosmetically, higher order NNFE and Kriging methods produce more visually appealing reconstructions. Quantitatively, however, DTFE performs better, even while being computationally far less demanding. A successful recovery of the void population on small scales appears to be difficult, while the void recovery rate improves significantly on scales >3 h-1 Mpc. A study of small-scale voids and the void galaxy population should therefore be restricted to the local Universe, out to at most 100 h-1 Mpc.