Large-scale modulation of star formation in void walls

TL;DR

This study reveals that galaxy properties like colour and star formation are influenced by large-scale structures, with galaxies in void walls showing more star formation activity than expected from local density alone.

Contribution

It demonstrates a large-scale modulation of star formation in galaxies, driven by their position relative to void centers, beyond local density effects.

Findings

Galaxies in void walls are bluer and more star-forming.

Luminosity and local density do not fully explain galaxy property distributions.

Large-scale environment influences galaxy evolution.

Abstract

We perform a statistical study of the characteristics of galaxies in voids and void walls in the SDSS and 2dFGRS catalogues. We investigate dependencies of the distribution of galaxy spectral types and colours as a function of the relative position to the void centres for different luminosity and local density ranges. We find a trend towards bluer, star forming galaxies in void walls beyond the local density dependence. These results indicate that luminosity and local density do not entirely determine the distribution of galaxy properties such as colours and spectral types, and point towards a large scale modulation of star formation. We argue that this effect is due to the lower accretion and merger history of galaxies arriving at void walls from the emptier inner void regions.