Research Note

Characteristic density contrasts in the evolution of superclusters. The case of A2142 supercluster

¹ Tartu Observatory, Observatooriumi 1, 61602 Tõravere, Estonia
e-mail: maret.einasto@to.ee
² Tuorla Observatory, University of Turku, Väisäläntie 20, 21500 Piikkiö, Finland
³ Estonian Academy of Sciences, Kohtu 6, 10130 Tallinn, Estonia
⁴ ICRANet, Piazza della Repubblica 10, 65122 Pescara, Italy

Received: 17 June 2015
Accepted: 1 August 2015

Abstract

Context. The formation and evolution of the cosmic web in which galaxy superclusters are the largest relatively isolated objects is governed by a gravitational attraction of dark matter and antigravity of dark energy (cosmological constant).

Aims. We study the characteristic density contrasts in the spherical collapse model for several epochs in the supercluster evolution and their dynamical state.

Methods. We analysed the density contrasts for the turnaround, future collapse, and zero gravity in different ΛCDM models and applied them to study the dynamical state of the supercluster A2142 with an almost spherical main body, making it a suitable test object to apply a model that assumes sphericity.

Results. We present characteristic density contrasts in the spherical collapse model for different cosmological parameters. The analysis of the supercluster A2142 shows that its high-density core has already started to collapse. The zero-gravity line outlines the outer region of the main body of the supercluster. In the course of future evolution, the supercluster may split into several collapsing systems.

Conclusions. The various density contrasts presented in our study and applied to the supercluster A2142 offer a promising way to characterise the dynamical state and expected future evolution of galaxy superclusters.