A Cosmic Void Catalog of SDSS DR12 BOSS Galaxies

Qingqing Mao, Andreas A. Berlind, Robert J. Scherrer, Mark C. Neyrinck, Román Scoccimarro, Jeremy L. Tinker, Cameron K. McBride, Donald P. Schneider, Kaike Pan, Dmitry Bizyaev, Elena Malanushenko, Viktor Malanushenko

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    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 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.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Article number161
    JournalAstrophysical Journal
    Volume835
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Feb 1 2017

    Keywords

    • cosmological parameters
    • cosmology: observations
    • large-scale structure of universe
    • methods: statistical
    • surveys

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Astronomy and Astrophysics
    • Space and Planetary Science

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