Abstract
We introduced a new two-dimensional (2D) hexagon technique for probing the topological structure of the universe in which we mapped regions of the sky with high and low galaxy densities onto a 2D lattice of hexagonal unit cells. We defined filled cells as corresponding to high-density regions and empty cells as corresponding to low-density regions. The numbers of filled cells and empty cells were kept the same by controlling the size of the cells. By analyzing the six sides of each hexagon, we could obtain and compare the statistical topological properties of high-density and low-density regions of the universe in order to have a better understanding of the evolution of the universe. We applied this hexagonal method to Two Micron All Sky Survey data and discovered significant topological differences between the high-density and low-density regions. Both regions had significant (>5σ) topological shifts from both the binomial distribution and the random distribution.
Author
Wu, Yongfeng; Xiao, Weike
Journal
Astrophysical Journal
Paper Publication Date
February 2014
Paper Type
Astrostatistics