Cosmology with voids

Abstract Voids are dominant features of the cosmic web. We revisit the cosmological information content of voids and connect void properties with the parameters of the background universe. We combine analytical results with a suite of large n-body realizations of large-scale structure in the quasilinear regime to measure the central density and radial outflow of voids. These properties, estimated from multiple voids that span a range of redshifts, provide estimates of the Hubble parameter, ΩM and ΩΛ. The analysis assumes access to the full phase-space distribution of mass within voids, a dataset that is not currently observable. The observable properties of the largest void in the universe may also test models. The suite of large n-body realizations enables construction of lightcones reaching  ∼3,000 h -1Mpc. Based on these lightcones, we show that large voids similar to those observed are expected in the standard ΛCDM model.