On the Abundance of Extreme Voids II: A Survey of Void Mass Functions

TL;DR

This paper surveys various void mass functions in cosmology, comparing their predictions for the largest voids with observational data, and introduces a new formalism for testing these theories effectively.

Contribution

It introduces a new extreme-value formalism for testing void mass functions against observations and simulations, expanding the tools available for cosmic void analysis.

Findings

Different void mass functions predict varying sizes for the largest voids.

The new formalism provides a practical method for testing void theories.

Comparison with observational data helps constrain void models.

Abstract

The abundance of cosmic voids can be described by an analogue of halo mass functions for galaxy clusters. In this work, we explore a number of void mass functions: from those based on excursion-set theory to new mass functions obtained by modifying halo mass functions. We show how different void mass functions vary in their predictions for the largest void expected in an observational volume, and compare those predictions to observational data. Our extreme-value formalism is shown to be a new practical tool for testing void theories against simulation and observation.