Abstract
The large-scale morphology of the high-density baryonic material in the universe, consisting of “clusters” in the form of pancakes, filaments, and nodes is obtained when matter streams away from a distribution of low-density expansion centres (“nuclei”) and collects in the interstices of a close packing of spheres.
This naturally leads to a partitioning of space generated by a process known as Voronoi tessellation. We have studied the statistical properties of specific instances of these tessellations, which we call Voronoi foams, for several model distributions of expansion centres. We derive the statistical properties of the regions where baryonic matter accumulates, and of the voids between the galaxies. These can be compared with observations, leading to indirect constraints on the initial spectrum of the density perturbations that produced the matter distribution we observe today.
The appearance of a Voronoi foam closely resembles the mass distribution found in numerical hydrodynamic experiments, and the bubble structure observed in the galaxy distribution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abell, G.O., 1958. Astrophys. J. Suppl., 3, 211.
Centrella, J.M., Melott, A.L., 1983. Nature, 305, 196.
Chandrasekhar, S., 1969. Ellipsoidal Figures of Equilibrium, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven.
De Lapparent, V., Geller, M.J., Huchra, J.P., 1986. Astrophys. J., 302, L1.
Descartes, R., 1664. Le Monde, ou Traité de la Lumière, Paris (posthumous publication of work dating to about 1620).
Efstathiou, G., Silk, J., 1983. Fundam. Cosm. Phys., 9, 1.
Einasto, J., Jôeveer, M., Saar, E., 1980. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., bf 193, 353.
Giovanelli, R., Haynes, M.P., 1982. Astr. J., 87, 1355.
Giovanelli, R., Haynes, M.P., Chincarini, G.L., 1986. Astrophys. J., 300, 77.
Humason, M.L., Mayall, N.U., Sandage, A.R., 1956. Astr. J., 61, 97.
Icke, V., 1972. Formation of Galaxies Inside Clusters, Ph. D. Thesis, Leiden.
Icke, V., 1973. Astr. Astrophys., 27, 1.
Icke, V., 1984. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., 206, 1p.
Icke, V., Van de Weygaert, R., 1987. Astr. Astrophys., 184, 16.
Jeans, J., 1902. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 199A, 49.
Jones, B.J.T., 1976. Revs. Mod. Phys., 48, 107.
Kirshner, R.P., Oemler, A., Schechter, P.L., Shectman, S.A., 1981. Astrophys. J., 248, L57.
Lifschitz, E.M., 1946. J. Phys. U.S.S.R., 10, 116.
Lin, C.C., Mestel, L., Shu, F.H., 1965. Astrophys. J., 142, 1431.
Lynden-Bell, D., 1964. Astrophys. J., 139, 1195.
Oort, J.H., 1970. Astr. Astrophys., 7, 381.
Oort, J.H., 1983. Ann. Rev. Astr. Astrophys., 21, 373.
Peebles, P.J.E., 1980. The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton.
Shane, C.D., Wirtanen, C.A., 1967. Publ. Lick Obs., XXII, Part 1.
Shapley, H., Ames, A., 1932. Ann. Harvard Obs., 88, 43.
Totsuji, H., Kihara, T., 1969. Publ. Astr. Soc. Japan, 21, 221.
Van der Valk, M., van de Weygaert, R., Icke, V., 1988. In preparation.
Voronoi, G., 1908. J. reine angew. Math., 134, 198.
Weymann, R.J., Carswell, R.F., Smith, M.G., 1981. Ann. Rev. Astr. Astrophys., 19, 41.
Zel'dovich, Ya.B., 1970. Astr. Astrophys, 5, 84. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A3418241 00007
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer-Verlag
About this paper
Cite this paper
Icke, V. (1988). Voronoi foam as a model of the medium-scale universe. In: Seitter, W.C., Duerbeck, H.W., Tacke, M. (eds) Large-Scale Structures in the Universe Observational and Analytical Methods. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 310. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-50135-5_78
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-50135-5_78
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-50135-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45938-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive