In cosmology, galaxy filaments (subtypes: supercluster complexes, galaxy walls, and galaxy sheets) Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravtsov, Vladimir N. Lukash; "The search and investigation of the Large Groups of Quasars" ; ;R.G. Clowes; "Large Quasar Groups - A Short Review"; ''The New Era of Wide Field Astronomy'', ASP Conference Series, vol. 232.; 2001; Astronomical Society of the Pacific; ; are the largest known structures in the universe, consisting of walls of gravitationally bound galaxy

supercluster A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups; they are among the largest known structures in the universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group galaxy group (which contains more than 54 galaxies), which in turn ...

s. These massive, thread-like formations can reach 80 megaparsecs ''h''⁻¹ (or of the order of 160 to 260 million

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s) and form the boundaries between large

voids Void may refer to: Science, engineering, and technology * Void (astronomy), the spaces between galaxy filaments that contain no galaxies * Void (composites), a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material * Void, synonym for vacuum, a s ...

Formation

In the

standard model The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetism, electromagnetic, weak interaction, weak and strong interactions - excluding gravity) in the universe and classifying a ...

of the evolution of the universe, galactic filaments form along and follow web-like strings of dark matter—also referred to as the galactic web or cosmic web. It is thought that this dark matter dictates the structure of the Universe on the grandest of scales. Dark matter gravitationally attracts baryonic matter, and it is this "normal" matter that astronomers see forming long, thin walls of super-galactic clusters.

Discovery

Discovery of structures larger than superclusters began in the late-1980s. In 1987, astronomer

R. Brent Tully Richard Brent Tully (born March 9, 1943) is a Canadian-born American astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, Hawaii. Born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tully's specialty is the astrophysics of gal ...

of the University of Hawaii's Institute of Astronomy identified what he called the

Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex The Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex is a galaxy filament. It includes the Laniakea Supercluster which contains the Virgo Supercluster lobe which in turn contains the Local Group, the galaxy cluster that includes the Milky Way. This filament ...

. In 1989, the

CfA2 Great Wall The Great Wall (also called Coma Wall), sometimes specifically referred to as the CfA2 Great Wall, is an immense galaxy filament. It is one of the largest known superstructures in the observable universe. This structure was discovered c. 1989 ...

was discovered, followed by the

Sloan Great Wall The Sloan Great Wall (SGW) is a cosmic structure formed by a giant wall of galaxies (a galaxy filament). Its discovery was announced from Princeton University on October 20, 2003, by J. Richard Gott III, Mario Jurić, and their colleagues, b ...

in 2003. On January 11, 2013, researchers led by Roger Clowes of the

University of Central Lancashire , mottoeng = "From the Earth to the Sun" , established = as Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledgere-established 1992 (University status granted) , type = Public , chancellor ...

announced the discovery of a

large quasar group A large quasar group (LQG) is a collection of quasars (a form of supermassive black hole active galactic nuclei) that form what are thought to constitute the largest astronomical structures in the observable universe. LQGs are thought to be prec ...

, the Huge-LQG, which dwarfs previously discovered galaxy filaments in size. In November 2013, using gamma-ray bursts as reference points, astronomers discovered the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall, an extremely huge filament measuring more than 10 billion light-years across.

Filaments

Filament subtype of filaments have roughly similar major and minor axes in cross-section, along the lengthwise axis. * A short filament, detected by identifying an alignment of star-forming galaxies, in the neighborhood of the Milky Way and the Local Group was proposed by Adi Zitrin and

Noah Brosch Noah Brosch (born 1948) is an Israeli astronomer, astrophysicist and space researcher. Biography Noah Brosch was born in Bucharest (Romania) in 1948 and immigrated with his family to Israel in 1963. Brosch studied at Tel Aviv University (BSc ...

. The reality of this filament, and the identification of a similar but shorter filament, were the result of a study by McQuinn ''et al.'' (2014) based on distance measurements using the TRGB method.

Galaxy walls

The galaxy wall subtype of filaments have a significantly greater major axis than minor axis in cross-section, along the lengthwise axis. Large-scale structure of light distribution in the universe

Large-scale structure of light distribution in the universe

* A "Centaurus Great Wall" (or "Fornax Great Wall" or "Virgo Great Wall") has been proposed, which would include the

Fornax Wall The Fornax Wall is a superstructure known as a galaxy filament or galaxy wall. It is a long filament of galaxies with a major axis longer than its minor one. The filament contains not only Dorado Group but also the Fornax cluster The Fornax Clus ...

as a portion of it (visually created by the

Zone of Avoidance The Zone of Avoidance (ZOA, ZoA), or Zone of Galactic Obscuration (ZGO), is the area of the sky that is obscured by the Milky Way. The Zone of Avoidance was originally called the Zone of Few Nebulae in an 1878 paper by English astronomer Richard ...

) along with the Centaurus Supercluster and the Virgo Supercluster also known as our Local Supercluster within which the Milky Way galaxy is located (implying this to be the

Local Great Wall Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

). * A wall was proposed to be the physical embodiment of the Great Attractor, with the Norma Cluster as part of it. It is sometimes referred to as the

Great Attractor Wall Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Norma Wall Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid *Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy Geography *Norma, Lazi ...

. This suggestion was superseded by the proposal of a supercluster, Laniakea, that would encompass the Great Attractor, Virgo Supercluster, Hydra-Centaurus Superclusters. * A wall was proposed in 2000 to lie at z=1.47 in the vicinity of radio galaxy

B3 0003+387 B3, B03, B.III or B-3 may refer to: Military American bombers * Keystone B-3, a biplane bomber of the United States Army Air Corps * Next-Generation Bomber (2018 Bomber), next bomber follow-on to the B-2 stealth bomber program * Long Range Strik ...

. * A wall was proposed in 2000 to lie at z=0.559 in the northern Hubble Deep Field (HDF North).

Map of nearest galaxy walls

Large Quasar Groups

Large quasar group A large quasar group (LQG) is a collection of quasars (a form of supermassive black hole active galactic nuclei) that form what are thought to constitute the largest astronomical structures in the observable universe. LQGs are thought to be prec ...

s (LQGs) are some of the largest structures known. They are theorized to be protohyperclusters/proto-supercluster-complexes/galaxy filament precursors.

Supercluster complex

Maps of large-scale distribution

File:Superclusters atlasoftheuniverse.gif, The universe within 1 billion light-years (307 Mpc) of Earth, showing local

s forming filaments and voids File:Nearsc.gif, Map of nearest walls, voids and superclusters File:2dfdtfe.gif, 2dF survey map, containing the SDSS Great Wall File:2MASS LSS chart-NEW Nasa.jpg, 2MASS XSC infrared sky map

References

External links

Pictures of the filamentary network

{{Portal bar, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Science Large-scale structure of the cosmos