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Title: A Cosmic Void Catalog of SDSS DR12 BOSS Galaxies

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7];  [6];  [6]
  1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States). Dept. of Physics, Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics
  4. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  5. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Inst. for Gravitation and the Cosmos
  6. Apache Point Observatory and New Mexico State Univ., Sunspot, NM (United States)
  7. Apache Point Observatory and New Mexico State Univ., Sunspot, NM (United States); Moscow State Univ., Moscow (Russian Federation). Sternberg Astronomical Inst.

We present a cosmic void catalog using the large-scale structure galaxy catalog from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This galaxy catalog is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12 and is the final catalog of SDSS-III. We take into account the survey boundaries, masks, and angular and radial selection functions, and apply the ZOBOV void finding algorithm to the Galaxy catalog. We identify a total of 10,643 voids. After making quality cuts to ensure that the voids represent real underdense regions, we obtain 1,228 voids with effective radii spanning the range 20–100 $${h}^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$$ and with central densities that are, on average, 30% of the mean sample density. We release versions of the catalogs both with and without quality cuts. We discuss the basic statistics of voids, such as their size and redshift distributions, and measure the radial density profile of the voids via a stacking technique. In addition, we construct mock void catalogs from 1000 mock galaxy catalogs, and find that the properties of BOSS voids are in good agreement with those in the mock catalogs. We compare the stellar mass distribution of galaxies living inside and outside of the voids, and find no large difference. These BOSS and mock void catalogs are useful for a number of cosmological and galaxy environment studies.

Research Organization:
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0011981
OSTI ID:
1537173
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 835, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 32 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

On the relative bias of void tracers in the Dark Energy Survey journal May 2019
The cosmic spiderweb: equivalence of cosmic, architectural and origami tessellations journal April 2018
Towards testing gravity with cosmic voids journal November 2018
Photometric Redshifts of Emission-line Galaxies Using Ramp Filters journal February 2019
Detection of z ∼ 2.3 Cosmic Voids from 3D Ly α Forest Tomography in the COSMOS Field journal July 2018
Metal Abundances and Star Formation Rates of Emission-line Galaxies in and around the Boötes Void journal September 2019
An Updated Catalog of Giant Radio Sources journal September 2018
The cosmic spiderweb: equivalence of cosmic, architectural, and origami tessellations text January 2017
On the relative bias of void tracers in the Dark Energy Survey text January 2018