English

Cosmological Constraints using the Void Size Function Data from BOSS DR16

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2025-06-04 v2

Abstract

We measure the void size function (VSF) from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS DR16) and perform the cosmological constraints. The BOSS DR16 galaxy sample is selected in the redshift range from z=0.2z = 0.2 to 0.8, considering the selection criteria based on galaxy number density. We identify non-spherical voids from this galaxy catalog using the Voronoi tessellation and watershed algorithm without assuming any void shape. We select the void samples based on the void ellipticity, and derive the VSFs in two redshift bins, i.e. z=0.20.5z=0.2-0.5 and 0.50.80.5-0.8. The VSF model we use is based on the excursion-set theory, including the void linear underdensity threshold δv\delta_{\rm v} and the redshift space distortion (RSD) parameter BB. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is applied to perform the joint constraints on the cosmological and void parameters. We find that the VSF measurement from BOSS DR16 gives w=1.2630.396+0.329w = -1.263_{-0.396}^{+0.329}, Ωm=0.2930.053+0.060\Omega_{\rm m} = 0.293_{-0.053}^{+0.060}, and σ8=0.8970.192+0.159\sigma_8 = 0.897_{-0.192}^{+0.159}, which can be a good complementary probe to galaxy clustering measurements. Our method demonstrates the potential of using the VSF to study cosmological models, and it can provide a reference for future VSF analysis in the upcoming galaxy spectroscopic surveys.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.07817,
  title  = {Cosmological Constraints using the Void Size Function Data from BOSS DR16},
  author = {Yingxiao Song and Yan Gong and Xingchen Zhou and Haitao Miao and Kwan Chuen Chan and Xuelei Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.07817},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:05:27.385Z