Forming galaxy clusters, superclusters, voids, and filaments
If individual galaxies seem to grow mostly by assembling smaller pieces together gravitationally over cosmic time, what about the clusters of galaxies and larger structures such as those seen in [link] ? How do we explain the large-scale maps that show galaxies distributed on the walls of huge sponge- or bubble-like structures spanning hundreds of millions of light-years?
As we saw, observations have found increasing evidence for concentrations, filaments, clusters, and superclusters of galaxies when the universe was less than 3 billion years old ( [link] ). This means that large concentrations of galaxies had already come together when the universe was less than a quarter as old as it is now.
Merging galaxies in a distant cluster.
Almost all the currently favored models of how large-scale structure formed in the universe tell a story similar to that for individual galaxies: tiny dark matter “seeds” in the hot cosmic soup after the Big Bang grew by gravity into larger and larger structures as cosmic time ticked on ( [link] ). The final models we construct will need to be able to explain the size, shape, age, number, and spatial distribution of galaxies, clusters, and filaments—not only today, but also far back in time. Therefore, astronomers are working hard to measure and then to model those features of large-scale structure as accurately as possible. So far, a mixture of 5% normal atoms, 27% cold dark matter, and 68% dark energy seems to be the best way to explain all the evidence currently available (see The Big Bang ).
Growth of large-scale structure as calculated by supercomputers.
The box at left is labeled “Big Bang,” the box at center is unlabeled and the box at right is labeled “Present”. A white arrow points from left to right representing the direction of time.
Scientists even have a model to explain how a nearly uniform, hot “soup” of particles and energy at the beginning of time acquired the Swiss-cheese-like structure that we now see on the largest scales. As we will see in The Big Bang , when the universe was only a few hundred thousand years old, everything was at a temperature of a few thousand degrees. Theorists suggest that at that early time, all the hot gas was vibrating, much as sound waves vibrate the air of a nightclub with an especially loud band. This vibrating could have concentrated matter into high-density peaks and created emptier spaces between them. When the universe cooled, the concentrations of matter were “frozen in,” and galaxies ultimately formed from the matter in these high-density regions.