Unveiling the largest structures in the nearby Universe: Discovery of the Quipu superstructure

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstr. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
² Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Boltzmannstr. 8, 85748 Garching, Germany
³ Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 München, Germany
⁴ Dept. of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Privat Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
⁵ ESAC, European Space Agancy, Camino bajo del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada 28692, Spain

^⋆ Corresponding author; hxb@mpe.mpg.de

Received: 22 December 2024
Accepted: 24 January 2025

Abstract

For a precise determination of cosmological parameters we need to understand the effects of the local large-scale structure of the Universe on the measurements. They include modifications of the cosmic microwave background, distortions of sky images by large-scale gravitational lensing, and the influence of large-scale streaming motions on measurements of the Hubble constant. The streaming motions, for example, originate from mass concentrations with distances up to 250 Mpc. In this paper we provide the first all-sky assessment of the largest structures at distances between 130 and 250 Mpc and discuss their observational consequences, using X-ray galaxy clusters to map the matter density distribution. Among the five most prominent superstructures found, the largest has a length longer than 400 Mpc with an estimated mass of about 2 × 10¹⁷ M_⊙. This entity, which we named Quipu, is the largest cosmic structure discovered to date. These superstructures contain about 45% of the galaxy clusters, 30% of the galaxies, 25% of the matter, and occupy a volume fraction of 13%, thus constituting a major part of the Universe. The galaxy density is enhanced in the environment of superstructures out to larger distances from the nearest member clusters compared to the outskirts of clusters in the field. We find superstructures with similar properties in simulations based on ΛCDM cosmology models. We show that the superstructures should produce a modification on the cosmic microwave background through the integrated Sachs-Wolf effect. Searching for this effect in the Planck data we found a signal of the expected strength, however, with low significance. Characterising these superstructures is also important for astrophysical research, for example the study of the environmental dependence of galaxy evolution as well as for precision tests of cosmological models.