Galaxy Superclusters and Their Complexes in the Cosmic Web

TL;DR

This paper reviews the properties, distribution, and significance of galaxy superclusters and their complexes in the cosmic web, highlighting their patterns, environments, and open questions in cosmology.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of superclusters, discussing their discovery, defining features, large-scale distribution, and the open questions regarding their origins within the cosmological model.

Findings

Richest superclusters form a quasiregular pattern with 120-140 $h^{-1}$Mpc spacing

Superclusters lie in two large perpendicular planes in the nearby Universe

The origin of supercluster patterns remains an open question in cosmology

Abstract

The richest and largest structures in the cosmic web are galaxy superclusters, their complexes (associations of several almost connected very rich superclusters), and planes. Superclusters represent a special environment where the evolution of galaxies and galaxy groups and clusters differs from the evolution of these systems in a low-density environment. The richest galaxy clusters reside in superclusters. The richest superclusters in the nearby Universe form a quasiregular pattern with the characteristic distance between superclusters 120 - 140 $h^{-1}$Mpc. Moreover, superclusters in the nearby Universe lie in two huge perpendicular planes with the extent of several hundreds of megaparsecs, the Local Supercluster plane and the Dominant supercluster plane. The origin of these patterns in the supercluster distribution is not yet clear, and it is an open question whether the presence of such structures can be explained within the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model. This review presents a brief story of superclusters, their discovery, definitions, main properties, and large-scale distribution.