Quantitative Analysis of the Void Size Distribution in the LCRS and in CDM Models

Abstract

We have analyzed the size distribution of voids in 2D slices of the Las Campanas Redshift Survey (LCRS). The characteristic sizes show a scaling $D=D_0+\nu \lambda$ with the mean galaxy separation $\lambda$. Comparison with mock samples of the LCRS in 2D and 3D, using various simulations, cosmologies and galaxy identification schemes, gives a similar scaling, but with steeper slope and a lack of large voids. Best results are obtained for dark matter halos in a $\Lambda$CDM model.

4 pages, to appear in the Proccedings of the `4th China-Germany Workshop on Cosmology', Shanghai, October 2000