The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey

Searching for cosmic voids^⋆

¹ INAF − Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Brera 28, 20122 Milano, via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy
e-mail: daniele.micheletti@brera.inaf.it
² INAF − Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
³ INAF − Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
⁴ Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, 13388 Marseille, France
⁵ INAF − Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica Milano, via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁶ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
⁷ Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, PO Box 23-141, 10617 Taipei, Taiwan
⁸ INAF − Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G. B. Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
⁹ Institute of Physics, Jan Kochanowski University, ul. Swietokrzyska 15, 25-406 Kielce, Poland
¹⁰ Department of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, 464-8602 Nagoya, Japan
¹¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia − Università di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
¹² INFN, Sezione di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
¹³ Institute d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095 CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
¹⁴ Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, Orla 171, 30-001 Cracow, Poland
¹⁵ National Centre for Nuclear Research, ul. Hoża 69, 00-681 Warszawa, Poland
¹⁶ Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, Dennis Sciama Building, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX, UK
¹⁷ INAF − Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica Bologna, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁸ INAF − Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁹ Centre de Physique Théorique, UMR 6207 CNRS-Université de Provence, Case 907, 13288 Marseille, France
²⁰ SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
²¹ Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR 7293, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, 06300 Nice, France
²² INFN, Sezione di Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
²³ INAF − Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone ( RM), Italy

Received: 30 April 2014
Accepted: 11 August 2014

Abstract

Context. The characterisation of cosmic voids gives unique information about the large-scale distribution of galaxies, their evolution, and thecosmological model.

Aims. We identify and characterise cosmic voids in the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) at redshift 0.55 <z< 0.9.

Methods. A new void search method is developed based upon the identification of empty spheres that fit between galaxies. The method can be used to characterise the cosmic voids despite the presence of complex survey boundaries and internal gaps. We investigate the impact of systematic observational effects and validate the method against mock catalogues. We measure the void size distribution and the void-galaxy correlation function.

Results. We construct a catalogue of voids in VIPERS. The distribution of voids is found to agree well with the distribution of voids found in mock catalogues. The void-galaxy correlation function shows indications of outflow velocity from the voids.