The lensing and temperature imprints of voids on the Cosmic Microwave Background

Abstract

We have searched for the signature of cosmic voids in the CMB, in both the Planck temperature and lensing-convergence maps; voids should give decrements in both. We use zobov voids from the DR12 SDSS CMASS galaxy sample. We base our analysis on N-body simulations, to avoid a posteriori bias. For the first time, we detect the signature of voids in CMB lensing: the significance is $3.2\sigma$, close to $\Lambda$CDM in both amplitude and projected density-profile shape. A temperature dip is also seen, at modest significance ($2.3\sigma$), with amplitude about 6 times the prediction. This temperature signal is induced mostly by voids with radius between 100 and 150 Mpc/h, while the lensing signal is mostly contributed by smaller voids -- as expected; lensing relates directly to density, while ISW depends on gravitational potential. The void abundance in observations and simulations agree, as well. We also repeated the analysis excluding lower-significance voids: no lensing signal is detected, with an upper limit of about twice the $\Lambda$CDM prediction. But the mean temperature decrement now becomes non-zero at the $3.7\sigma$ level (similar to that found by Granett et al.), with amplitude about 20 times the prediction. However, the observed dependence of temperature on void size is in poor agreement with simulations, whereas the lensing results are consistent with $\Lambda$CDM theory. Thus, the overall tension between theory and observations does not favour non-standard theories of gravity, despite the hints of an enhanced amplitude for the ISW effect from voids.

12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (7)

• ZOBOV: a parameter-free void-finding algorithm
• An Imprint of Super-Structures on the Microwave Background due to the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect
• VOBOZ: An Almost-Parameter-Free Halo-Finding Algorithm
• A Map of the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Signal from Luminous Red Galaxies
• Impact of Scale Dependent Bias and Nonlinear Structure Growth on the ISW Effect: Angular Power Spectra
• Voids in Modified Gravity Reloaded: Eulerian Void Assignment
• The Jubilee ISW Project II: observed and simulated imprints of voids and superclusters on the cosmic microwave background

Cited by in corpus (6)

• CMB-S4 Science Case, Reference Design, and Project Plan
• Cosmic voids: a novel probe to shed light on our Universe
• The DES view of the Eridanus supervoid and the CMB Cold Spot
• Cosmology Intertwined: A Review of the Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Associated with the Cosmological Tensions and Anomalies
• The Gravitational Lensing Signatures of BOSS Voids in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Tracing the gravitational potential using cosmic voids