Cosmology with Cosmic Voids

Abstract

Cosmic voids are low-mass-density regions on intergalactic scales. They are where cosmic expansion and acceleration are most dominant, important places to understand and analyze for cosmology. This entry summarises theoretical underpinnings of cosmic voids, and explores several observational aspects, statistics and applications of voids. The density profiles, velocity profiles, evolution history and the abundances of voids are shown to encode information about cosmology, including the sum of neutrino masses and the law of gravity. These properties manifest themselves into a wide range of observables, including the void distribution function, redshift-space distortions, gravitational lensing and their imprints on the cosmic-microwave background. We explain how each of these observables work, and summarise their applications in observations. We also comment on the possible impact of a local void on the interpretations of the expansion of the Universe, and discuss opportunities and challenges for the research subject of cosmic voids.

Published in Encyclopedia of Astrophysics, Volume 5, 2026, Pages 359-380 (edited by I. Mandel, section editor C. Howlett)

References in corpus (158)

• Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
• Models of f(R) Cosmic Acceleration that Evade Solar-System Tests
• The DESI Experiment Part I: Science,Targeting, and Survey Design
• Properties of Dark Matter Haloes in Clusters, Filaments, Sheets and Voids
• Evolution of the cosmic web
• A discriminating probe of gravity at cosmological scales
• Planck 2013 results. XVII. Gravitational lensing by large-scale structure
• ZOBOV: a parameter-free void-finding algorithm
• Tracing the cosmic web
• Confirmation of general relativity on large scales from weak lensing and galaxy velocities
• A Dynamical Classification of the Cosmic Web
• An Imprint of Super-Structures on the Microwave Background due to the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect
• An inhomogeneous alternative to dark energy?
• Multiscale Phenomenology of the Cosmic Web
• A Cosmic Watershed: the WVF Void Detection Technique
• Cosmic Voids in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7
• The Excursion Set Theory of Halo Mass Functions, Halo Clustering, and Halo Growth
• Precision cosmography with stacked voids
• Voids in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
• Confronting Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi models with Observational Cosmology
• The Aspen--Amsterdam Void Finder Comparison Project
• Universal Density Profile for Cosmic Voids
• A kinematic classification of the cosmic web
• Evidence for a ~300 Mpc Scale Under-density in the Local Galaxy Distribution
• Testing Gravity using Cosmic Voids
• Constraints on Cosmology and Gravity from the Dynamics of Voids
• Planck 2015 results. XXI. The integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect
• Clues from nearby galaxies to a better theory of cosmic evolution
• Galileon Gravity in Light of ISW, CMB, BAO and $H_0$ data
• Voids in Modified Gravity: Excursion Set Predictions
• Voids in a $\Lambda$CDM Universe
• The darkness that shaped the void: dark energy and cosmic voids
• A public void catalog from the SDSS DR7 Galaxy Redshift Surveys based on the watershed transform
• Cosmological Constraints on f(R) Acceleration Models
• The Local Perspective on the Hubble Tension: Local Structure Does Not Impact Measurement of the Hubble Constant
• Precision cosmology with voids: definition, methods, dynamics
• Constraints on f(R) gravity from probing the large-scale structure
• The abundance of voids and the excursion set formalism
• The Cosmic Web, Multi-Stream Flows, and Tessellations
• Spatial and Dynamical Properties of Voids in a LCDM Universe
• Voids in massive neutrino cosmologies
• Massive Neutrinos Leave Fingerprints on Cosmic Voids
• The observational status of Galileon gravity after Planck
• Average observational quantities in the timescape cosmology
• The Hierarchical Structure and Dynamics of Voids
• Beyond BAO: improving cosmological constraints from BOSS with measurement of the void-galaxy cross-correlation
• Probing cosmology and gravity with redshift-space distortions around voids
• The Santiago-Harvard-Edinburgh-Durham void comparison I: SHEDding light on chameleon gravity tests
• Density split statistics: Cosmological constraints from counts and lensing in cells in DES Y1 and SDSS data
• First measurement of gravitational lensing by cosmic voids in SDSS
• Cosmic Voids and Void Lensing in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data
• The Effect of Inhomogeneities on the Luminosity Distance-Redshift Relation: is Dark Energy Necessary in a Perturbed Universe?
• Clues on void evolution II: Measuring density and velocity profiles on SDSS galaxy redshift space distortions
• Confirmation of the Copernican principle at Gpc radial scale and above from the kinetic Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect power spectrum
• Weak lensing by voids in modified lensing potentials
• ORIGAMI: Delineating Halos using Phase-Space Folds
• Redshift-space distortions around voids
• GAIA Cepheid parallaxes and 'Local Hole' relieve $H_0$ tension
• Lensing Measurements of the Mass Distribution in SDSS Voids
• Density split statistics: joint model of counts and lensing in cells
• The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey: Measuring the growth rate of structure around cosmic voids
• A Possible Cold Imprint of Voids on the Microwave Background Radiation
• The Weight of Emptiness: The Gravitational Lensing Signal of Stacked Voids
• Detection of a Supervoid Aligned with the Cold Spot of the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Detecting the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect with stacked voids
• Detecting Neutrino Mass by Combining Matter Clustering, Halos, and Voids
• Constraining the Dark Energy Equation of State with Cosmic Voids
• A detection of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprint of cosmic superstructures using a matched-filter approach
• Cosmicflows-3: Cosmography of the Local Void
• Precision cosmology with voids in the final BOSS data
• The integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprints of cosmic superstructures: a problem for ΛCDM
• The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: geometry and growth from the anisotropic void-galaxy correlation function in the luminous red galaxy sample
• The Local Hole revealed by galaxy counts and redshifts
• Tension of the $E_G$ statistic and RSD data with Planck/$\Lambda$CDM and implications for weakening gravity
• Cosmic voids in modified gravity models with massive neutrinos
• A Cosmic Void Catalog of SDSS DR12 BOSS Galaxies
• Multipole analysis of redshift-space distortions around cosmic voids
• More out of less: an excess integrated Sachs-Wolfe signal from supervoids mapped out by the Dark Energy Survey
• Consistency of the growth rate in different environments with the 6dF Galaxy Survey: measurement of the void-galaxy and galaxy-galaxy correlation functions
• Linear redshift space distortions for cosmic voids based on galaxies in redshift space
• The Santiago-Harvard-Edinburgh-Durham void comparison II: unveiling the Vainshtein screening using weak lensing
• Signatures of the Primordial Universe from Its Emptiness: Measurement of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Minima of the Density Field
• Euclid: Forecasts from redshift-space distortions and the Alcock-Paczynski test with cosmic voids
• Cosmic Web and Environmental Dependence of Screening: Vainshtein vs. Chameleon
• The lensing and temperature imprints of voids on the Cosmic Microwave Background
• The stacked ISW signal of rare superstructures in ΛCDM
• KiDS+2dFLenS+GAMA: Testing the cosmological model with the $E_{\mathrm{G}}$ statistic
• The Vainshtein Mechanism in the Cosmic Web
• Studying galaxy troughs and ridges using Weak Gravitational Lensing with the Kilo-Degree Survey
• Modelling Void Abundance in Modified Gravity
• Concordance cosmology without dark energy
• Void Lensing as a Test of Gravity
• Redshift-space distortions with split densities
• Testing cosmology with a catalogue of voids in the BOSS galaxy surveys
• Cosmological exploitation of the size function of cosmic voids identified in the distribution of biased tracers
• Euclid: Cosmological forecasts from the void size function
• Topology and Dark Energy: Testing Gravity in Voids
• Cosmological constraints from the BOSS DR12 void size function
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 results: The relationship between mass and light around cosmic voids
• Cluster-Void Degeneracy Breaking: Dark Energy, Planck and the Largest Cluster & Void
• An accurate linear model for redshift space distortions in the void-galaxy correlation function
• Testing gravity on large scales by combining weak lensing with galaxy clustering using CFHTLenS and BOSS CMASS
• Probing gravity with a joint analysis of galaxy and CMB lensing and SDSS spectroscopy
• Voids in Modified Gravity Reloaded: Eulerian Void Assignment
• Measuring the mass distribution of voids with stacked weak lensing
• Testing cosmic geometry without dynamic distortions using voids
• Weak Lensing Minima and Peaks: Cosmological Constraints and the Impact of Baryons
• The part and the whole: voids, supervoids, and their ISW imprint
• New constraints on the linear growth rate using cosmic voids in the SDSS DR12 datasets
• Constraints on the growth of structure around cosmic voids in eBOSS DR14
• Cluster-void degeneracy breaking: Neutrino properties and dark energy
• Measuring Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from the clustering of voids
• Cosmological test of gravity using weak lensing voids
• Constraining cosmology with weak lensing voids
• Evidence for a high-z ISW signal from supervoids in the distribution of eBOSS quasars
• Measurement of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect around cosmic voids
• A Detection of $z$~2.3 Cosmic Voids from 3D Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest Tomography in the COSMOS Field
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: the lensing imprint of cosmic voids on the Cosmic Microwave Background
• A Zeldovich reconstruction method for measuring redshift space distortions using cosmic voids
• Redshift-space effects in voids and their impact on cosmological tests. Part II: the void-galaxy cross-correlation function
• Euclid: Forecasts from the void-lensing cross-correlation
• Cosmological exploitation of cosmic void statistics - New numerical tools in the CosmoBolognaLib to extract cosmological constraints from the void size function
• Ringing the initial Universe: the response of overdensity and transformed-density power spectra to initial spikes
• The Gravitational Lensing Signatures of BOSS Voids in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Cosmic voids uncovered -- first-order statistics of depressions in the biased density field
• Stacked CMB lensing and ISW signals around superstructures in the DESI Legacy Survey
• Weak lensing by galaxy troughs with modified gravity
• The perspective of voids on rising cosmology tensions
• Updated void catalogs of the SDSS DR7 main sample
• Testing the spherical evolution of cosmic voids
• On the observability of coupled dark energy with cosmic voids
• DEMNUni: The imprint of massive neutrinos on the cross-correlation between cosmic voids and CMB lensing
• KiDS-1000 Cosmology: Constraints from density split statistics
• The void halo mass function: a promising probe of neutrino mass
• Exploring the cosmological synergy between galaxy cluster and cosmic void number counts
• Void profile from Planck lensing potential map
• Cold imprint of supervoids in the Cosmic Microwave Background re-considered with Planck and BOSS DR10
• Euclid: Cosmology forecasts from the void-galaxy cross-correlation function with reconstruction
• The median density of the Universe
• Why there is no Newtonian backreaction
• The statistics of voids as a tool to constrain cosmological parameters: sigma_8 and Omega_m h
• Gaussian Approximation of Peak Values in the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect
• Cluster-Void Degeneracy Breaking: Modified Gravity in the Balance
• Measuring the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect from the low-density regions of the universe
• The universal multiplicity function: counting halos and voids
• The redshift dependence of the inferred $H_0$ in a local void solution to the Hubble tension
• Guess the cheese flavour by the size of its holes: A cosmological test using the abundance of Popcorn voids
• The void-galaxy cross-correlation function with massive neutrinos and modified gravity
• Cosmological measurements from void-galaxy and galaxy-galaxy clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Improving baryon acoustic oscillation measurement with the combination of cosmic voids and galaxies
• Density and velocity profiles around cosmic voids
• Constraining gravity with a new precision $E_G$ estimator using Planck + SDSS BOSS
• Detection of cross-correlation between CMB Lensing and low-density points
• Challenges in Constraining Gravity with Cosmic Voids
• The cosmic spiderweb: equivalence of cosmic, architectural, and origami tessellations
• Constraining cosmological parameters using void statistics from the SDSS survey
• Void Lensing in Cubic Galileon Gravity
• The Gravitational Lensing Imprints of DES Y3 Superstructures on the CMB: A Matched Filtering Approach