Galaxy filaments, walls and voids form web-like structures.

In cosmology, galaxy filaments are the largest known structures in the universe, consisting of walls of galactic superclusters. These massive, thread-like formations can commonly reach 50/h to 80/h Megaparsecs (160 to 260 megalight-years) — with the largest found to date being the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall at around 3 gigaparsecs (9.8 Gly) in length — and form the boundaries between voids.[1] Due to the accelerating expansion of the universe, the individual clusters of gravitationally bound galaxies that make up galaxy filaments are moving away from each other at an accelerated rate; in the far future they will dissolve.[2]

Galaxy filaments form the cosmic web and define the overall structure of the observable universe.[3][4][5]

Discovery

Discovery of structures larger than superclusters began in the late-1980s. In 1987, astronomer R. Brent Tully of the University of Hawaii's Institute of Astronomy identified what he called the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex. In 1989, the CfA2 Great Wall was discovered,[6] followed by the Sloan Great Wall in 2003.[7]

In January 2013, researchers led by Roger Clowes of the University of Central Lancashire announced the discovery of a large quasar group, the Huge-LQG, which dwarfs previously discovered galaxy filaments in size.[8] In November 2013, using gamma-ray bursts as reference points, astronomers discovered the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall, an extremely large filament measuring more than 10 billion light-years across.[9][10][11]

Filaments

The filament subtype of filaments have roughly similar major and minor axes in cross-section, along the lengthwise axis.

Filaments of Galaxies
Filament Date Mean distance Dimension Notes
Coma Filament The Coma Supercluster lies within the Coma Filament.[12] It forms part of the CfA2 Great Wall.[13]
Perseus–Pegasus Filament 1985 Connected to the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster, with the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster being a member of the filament.[14]
Ursa Major Filament Connected to the CfA Homunculus, a portion of the filament forms a portion of the "leg" of the Homunculus.[15]
Lynx–Ursa Major Filament (LUM Filament) 1999 from 2000 km/s to 8000 km/s in redshift space Connected to and separate from the Lynx–Ursa Major Supercluster.[15]
z=2.38 filament around protocluster ClG J2143-4423 2004 z=2.38 110 Mpc A filament the length of the Great Wall was discovered in 2004. As of 2008, it was still the largest structure beyond redshift 2.[16][17][18][19]
  • A short filament was proposed by Adi Zitrin and Noah Brosch—detected by identifying an alignment of star-forming galaxies—in the neighborhood of the Milky Way and the Local Group.[20] The proposal of this filament, and of a similar but shorter filament, were the result of a study by McQuinn et al. (2014) based on distance measurements using the TRGB method.[21]

Galaxy walls

The galaxy wall subtype of filaments have a significantly greater major axis than minor axis in cross-section, along the lengthwise axis.

Walls of Galaxies
Wall Date Mean distance Dimension Notes
CfA2 Great Wall (Coma Wall, Great Wall, Northern Great Wall, Great Northern Wall, CfA Great Wall) 1989 z=0.03058 251 Mpc long: 750 Mly long
250 Mly wide
20 Mly thick		 This was the first super-large large-scale structure or pseudo-structure in the universe to be discovered. The CfA Homunculus lies at the heart of the Great Wall, and the Coma Supercluster forms most of the homunculus structure. The Coma Cluster lies at the core.[22][23]
Sloan Great Wall (SDSS Great Wall) 2003 z=0.07804 433 Mpc long This was the largest known galaxy filament to be discovered,[22] until it was eclipsed by the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall found ten years later.
Sculptor Wall (Southern Great Wall, Great Southern Wall, Southern Wall) 8000 km/s long
5000 km/s wide
1000 km/s deep (in redshift space dimensions) 		The Sculptor Wall is "parallel" to the Fornax Wall and "perpendicular" to the Grus Wall.[24][25]
Grus Wall The Grus Wall is "perpendicular" to the Fornax and Sculptor Walls.[25]
Fornax Wall The Fornax Cluster is part of this wall. The wall is "parallel" to the Sculptor Wall and "perpendicular" to the Grus Wall.[24][25]
Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall 2013 z≈2[10] 3 Gpc long,[10]
150 000 km/s deep[10]
(in redshift space) 		The largest known structure in the universe.[9][10][11] This is also the first time since 1991 that a galaxy filament/great wall held the record as the largest known structure in the universe.
  • A "Centaurus Great Wall" (or "Fornax Great Wall" or "Virgo Great Wall") has been proposed, which would include the Fornax Wall as a portion of it (visually created by the Zone of Avoidance) along with the Centaurus Supercluster and the Virgo Supercluster also known as the Local Supercluster within which the Milky Way galaxy is located (implying this to be the Local Great Wall).[24][25]
  • A wall was proposed to be the physical embodiment of the Great Attractor, with the Norma Cluster as part of it. It is sometimes referred to as the Great Attractor Wall or Norma Wall.[26] This suggestion was superseded by the proposal of a supercluster, Laniakea, that would encompass the Great Attractor, Virgo Supercluster, Hydra-Centaurus Superclusters.[27]
  • A wall was proposed in 2000 to lie at z=1.47 in the vicinity of radio galaxy B3 0003+387.[28]
  • A wall was proposed in 2000 to lie at z=0.559 in the northern Hubble Deep Field (HDF North).[29][30]

Map of nearest galaxy walls

The Universe within 500 million light years, showing the nearest galaxy walls

Large Quasar Groups

Large quasar groups (LQGs) are some of the largest structures known.[31] They are theorized to be protohyperclusters/proto-supercluster-complexes/galaxy filament precursors.[32]

Large Quasar Groups
LQG Date Mean distance Dimension Notes
Clowes–Campusano LQG
(U1.28, CCLQG)		 1991 z=1.28
  • longest dimension: 630 Mpc
 It was the largest known structure in the universe from 1991 to 2011, until U1.11's discovery.
U1.11 2011 z=1.11
  • longest dimension: 780 Mpc
 Was the largest known structure in the universe for a few months, until Huge-LQG's discovery.
Huge-LQG 2012 z=1.27
  • characteristic size: 500 Mpc
  • longest dimension: 1.24 Gpc
It was the largest structure known in the universe,[31][32] until the discovery of the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall found one year later.[10]

Supercluster complex

Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex

Maps of large-scale distribution

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bharadwaj, Somnath; Bhavsar, Suketu; Sheth, Jatush V (2004). "The Size of the Longest Filaments in the Universe". Astrophys J. 606 (1): 25–31. arXiv:astro-ph/0311342. Bibcode:2004ApJ...606...25B. doi:10.1086/382140. S2CID 10473973.
  2. ↑ Siegel, Ethan. "Our Home Supercluster, Laniakea, Is Dissolving Before Our Eyes". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  3. ↑ "Cosmic Web". NASA Universe Exploration. Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  4. ↑ Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravtsov, Vladimir N. Lukash; "The search and investigation of the Large Groups of Quasars" arXiv:astro-ph/9602090; Bibcode:1996astro.ph..2090K;
  5. ↑ R. G. Clowes; "Large Quasar Groups – A Short Review"; The New Era of Wide Field Astronomy, ASP Conference Series, vol. 232.; 2001; Astronomical Society of the Pacific; ISBN 1-58381-065-X; Bibcode:2001ASPC..232..108C
  6. ↑ Huchra, John P.; Geller, Margaret J. (17 November 1989). "M. J. Geller & J. P. Huchra, Science 246, 897 (1989)". Science. 246 (4932): 897–903. doi:10.1126/science.246.4932.897. PMID 17812575. S2CID 31328798. Archived from the original on 2008-06-21. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  7. ↑ Sky and Telescope, "Refining the Cosmic Recipe" Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, 14 November 2003
  8. ↑ Wall, Mike (2013-01-11). "Largest structure in universe discovered". Fox News. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2013-01-12.
  9. 1 2 Horvath, Istvan; Hakkila, Jon; Bagoly, Zsolt (2014). "Possible structure in the GRB sky distribution at redshift two". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 561: id.L12. arXiv:1401.0533. Bibcode:2014A&A...561L..12H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201323020. S2CID 24224684.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Horvath I., Hakkila J., and Bagoly Z.; Hakkila, J.; Bagoly, Z. (2013). "The largest structure of the Universe, defined by Gamma-Ray Bursts". 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: Paper 33 in EConf Proceedings C1304143. 1311: 1104. arXiv:1311.1104. Bibcode:2013arXiv1311.1104H.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. 1 2 Klotz, Irene (2013-11-19). "Universe's Largest Structure is a Cosmic Conundrum". discovery. Archived from the original on 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2013-11-22.
  12. ↑ 'Astronomy and Astrophysics' (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 138, no. 1, Sept. 1984, pp. 85–92. Research supported by Cornell University "The Coma/A 1367 filament of galaxies" 09/1984 Bibcode:1984A&A...138...85F
  13. ↑ THE ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 115:1745-1777, 1998 May; THE STAR FORMATION PROPERTIES OF DISK GALAXIES: Hα IMAGING OF GALAXIES IN THE COMA SUPERCLUSTER
  14. ↑ 'Astrophysical Journal', Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 299, Dec. 1, 1985, pp. 5–14. "A possible 300 megaparsec filament of clusters of galaxies in Perseus-Pegasus" 12/1985 Bibcode:1985ApJ...299....5B
  15. 1 2 The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, volume 121, issue 2, pp. 445–472. "Photometric Properties of Kiso Ultraviolet-Excess Galaxies in the Lynx-Ursa Major Region" 04/1999 Bibcode:1999ApJS..121..445T
  16. ↑ NASA, GIANT GALAXY STRING DEFIES MODELS OF HOW UNIVERSE EVOLVED Archived 2008-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, January 7, 2004
  17. ↑ Palunas, Povilas; Teplitz, Harry I.; Francis, Paul J.; Williger, Gerard M.; Woodgate, Bruce E. (2004). "The Distribution of Lyα‐Emitting Galaxies at z = 2.38". The Astrophysical Journal. 602 (2): 545–554. arXiv:astro-ph/0311279. Bibcode:2004ApJ...602..545P. doi:10.1086/381145. S2CID 990891.
  18. ↑ Francis, Paul J.; Palunas, Povilas; Teplitz, Harry I.; Williger, Gerard M.; Woodgate, Bruce E. (2004). "The Distribution of Lyα‐emitting Galaxies at z =2.38. II. Spectroscopy". The Astrophysical Journal. 614 (1): 75–83. arXiv:astro-ph/0406413. Bibcode:2004ApJ...614...75F. doi:10.1086/423417. S2CID 118037575.
  19. ↑ Relativistic Astrophysics Legacy and Cosmology - Einstein's, ESO Astrophysics Symposia, Volume . ISBN 978-3-540-74712-3. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2008, p. 358 "Ultraviolet-Bright, High-Redshift ULIRGS" 00/2008 Bibcode:2008ralc.conf..358W
  20. ↑ Zitrin, A.; Brosch, N. (2008). "The NGC 672 and 784 galaxy groups: evidence for galaxy formation and growth along a nearby dark matter filament". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 390 (1): 408–420. arXiv:0808.1789. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.390..408Z. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13786.x. S2CID 16296617.
  21. ↑ McQuinn, K.B.W.; et al. (2014). "Distance Determinations to SHIELD Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging". The Astrophysical Journal. 785 (1): 3. arXiv:1402.3723. Bibcode:2014ApJ...785....3M. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/785/1/3. S2CID 118465292.
  22. 1 2 Chin. J. Astron. Astrophys. Vol. 6 (2006), No. 1, 35–42 "Super-Large-Scale Structures in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  23. ↑ Scientific American, vol. 280, no. 6, pp. 30–37 "Mapping the Universe" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-04. (1.43 MB) 06/1999 Bibcode:1999SciAm.280f..30L
  24. 1 2 3 Unveiling large-scale structures behind the Milky Way. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, vol. 67; Proceedings of a workshop at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon; 18–21 January 1994; San Francisco, California: Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP); c1994; edited by Chantal Balkowski and R. C. Kraan-Korteweg, p.21; Visualization of Nearby Large-Scale Structures Archived 2015-11-27 at the Wayback Machine; Fairall, A. P.; Paverd, W. R.; & Ashley, R. P.; 1994 ASPC...67...21F
  25. 1 2 3 4 Astrophysics and Space Science, volume 230, issue 1–2, pp. 225–235 "Large-Scale Structures in the Distribution of Galaxies" 08/1995 Bibcode:1995Ap&SS.230..225F
  26. ↑ World Science, Wall of galaxies tugs on ours, astronomers find Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine April 19, 2006
  27. ↑ Tully, R. Brent; Courtois, Hélène; Hoffman, Yehuda; Pomarède, Daniel (2 September 2014). "The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies". Nature (published 4 September 2014). 513 (7516): 71–73. arXiv:1409.0880. Bibcode:2014Natur.513...71T. doi:10.1038/nature13674. PMID 25186900. S2CID 205240232.
  28. ↑ The Astronomical Journal, volume 120, issue 5, pp. 2331–2337. "B3 0003+387: AGN-Marked Large-Scale Structure at Redshift 1.47?" 11/2000 Bibcode:2000AJ....120.2331T doi:10.1086/316827
  29. ↑ FermiLab, "Astronomers Find Wall of Galaxies Traversing the Hubble Deep Field", DARPA, Monday, January 24, 2000
  30. ↑ Vanden Berk, Daniel E.; Stoughton, Chris; Crotts, Arlin P. S.; Tytler, David; Kirkman, David (2000). "QSO[CLC]s[/CLC] and Absorption-Line Systems surrounding the Hubble Deep Field". The Astronomical Journal. 119 (6): 2571–2582. arXiv:astro-ph/0003203. Bibcode:2000AJ....119.2571V. doi:10.1086/301404. S2CID 117882449.
  31. 1 2 "Biggest structure in universe: Large quasar group is 4 billion light years across". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  32. 1 2 Clowes, Roger G.; Harris, Kathryn A.; Raghunathan, Srinivasan; Campusano, Luis E.; Soechting, Ilona K.; Graham, Matthew J.; "A structure in the early universe at z ~ 1.3 that exceeds the homogeneity scale of the R-W concordance cosmology"; arXiv:1211.6256; Bibcode:2012arXiv1211.6256C; doi:10.1093/mnras/sts497; Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 11 January 2013
  33. ↑ Yusef-Zadeh, F.; Arendt, R. G.; Wardle, M.; Heywood, I. (1 June 2023). "The Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: Position Angle Distribution Reveals a Degree-scale Collimated Outflow from Sgr A* along the Galactic Plane". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 949 (2): L31. arXiv:2306.01071. Bibcode:2023ApJ...949L..31Y. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acd54b. ISSN 2041-8205. S2CID 259046030.

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