The lensing and temperature imprints of voids on the Cosmic Microwave Background

TL;DR

This study detects the imprint of cosmic voids on the CMB through lensing and temperature signals, finding results mostly consistent with $ ext{Lambda}$CDM but with some anomalies in temperature amplitude.

Contribution

First detection of voids' signatures in CMB lensing maps, providing new observational constraints on void properties and their effects on the CMB within the $ ext{Lambda}$CDM framework.

Findings

Lensing signal detected at 3.2σ significance, consistent with $ ext{Lambda}$CDM.

Temperature dip observed at 2.3σ, with amplitude exceeding predictions.

Excluding low-significance voids increases temperature signal significance to 3.7σ.

Abstract

We have searched for the signature of cosmic voids in the CMB, in both the Planck temperature and lensing-convergence maps; voids should give decrements in both. We use zobov voids from the DR12 SDSS CMASS galaxy sample. We base our analysis on N-body simulations, to avoid a posteriori bias. For the first time, we detect the signature of voids in CMB lensing: the significance is $3.2\sigma$, close to $\Lambda$CDM in both amplitude and projected density-profile shape. A temperature dip is also seen, at modest significance ($2.3\sigma$), with amplitude about 6 times the prediction. This temperature signal is induced mostly by voids with radius between 100 and 150 Mpc/h, while the lensing signal is mostly contributed by smaller voids -- as expected; lensing relates directly to density, while ISW depends on gravitational potential. The void abundance in observations and simulations agree, as well. We also repeated the analysis excluding lower-significance voids: no lensing signal is detected, with an upper limit of about twice the $\Lambda$CDM prediction. But the mean temperature decrement now becomes non-zero at the $3.7\sigma$ level (similar to that found by Granett et al.), with amplitude about 20 times the prediction. However, the observed dependence of temperature on void size is in poor agreement with simulations, whereas the lensing results are consistent with $\Lambda$CDM theory. Thus, the overall tension between theory and observations does not favour non-standard theories of gravity, despite the hints of an enhanced amplitude for the ISW effect from voids.