Local void vs dark energy: confrontation with WMAP and type Ia supernovae

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2009/09/025· OSTI ID:22273037

Alexander, Stephon; Biswas, Tirthabir; Vaid, Deepak ^[1]; Notari, Alessio ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, 104 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A (United States)
2. Physics Department, McGill University, 3600 University Road, Montréal, QC, H3A 2T8 (Canada)

It is now a known fact that if we happen to be living in the middle of a large underdense region, then we will observe an ''apparent acceleration'', even when any form of dark energy is absent. In this paper, we present a ''Minimal Void'' scenario, i.e. a ''void'' with minimal underdensity contrast (of about -0.4) and radius (∼ 200−250 Mpc/h) that can, not only explain the supernovae data, but also be consistent with the 3-yr WMAP data. We also discuss consistency of our model with various other measurements, and in particular consistency with local measurements of the Hubble parameter. We also point out possible observable signatures.

• OSTI ID: 22273037
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2009, Issue 09; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCELERATION
ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY
ENERGY DENSITY
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
SUPERNOVAE