A team of astrophysicists from the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, has created the largest map of voids and superclusters in galaxies in the Universe to date, helping to solve a long-standing cosmological mystery.
A map of space voids - vast empty regions of space containing relatively few galaxies - and superclusters of galaxies - giant regions where galaxies are more dense than average - can be used to measure the effect of dark energy on the "stretching" of our universe.
These results support the predictions of Einstein's gravitational theory.
The lead author of the new study, Dr. Seshadri Nadathur of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravity at the University of Portsmouth, said: through them."
This effect of voids and superclusters of galaxies on CMB photons is known to scientists as the integrated Sachs-Wolf effect. This new study found that this effect is actually about five times weaker than previously thought. The overly intense Sachs-Wolfe effect has long presented a cosmological enigma for astronomers, but now the revised measurements of the intensity of this effect in this new study are in good agreement with predictions made in the framework of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
Study Appears in Astrophysical Journal