Collaborative Research: Voids and Void Galaxies

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CenAST-0071153This is a collaborative research project with Michael S Vogeley at Drexel University (AST0071201). The goal of this research is to construct detailed models (using an Adaptive Mesh Refinement code which allows for finer spatial resolution than previous models) of voids and their constituent galaxies and compare these models with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). These comparisons will then be used to set constraints on different cosmological models, the structure and dynamics of voids, and to investigate how galaxies form and evolve in a low density environment. The investigators propose to study the lowest density regions of the universe (called Voids). Voids play a critical role in the evolution of large scale structure and galaxy formation in the universe, yet they are poorly understood and poorly studied.The proposors will conduct theoretical computer modeling of void formation and test these models by comparing them with observations of galaxy densities and spatial distributions obtained from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Since these computer models will each depend on input parameters which are different for different types of cosmology, the comparison will help identify which cosmological models are correct. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Extragalactic Astronomy & Cosmology (AST/EXC).***