TFNR - Cosmic megastructures
Cosmic megastructures are the largest known formations in the Universe, spanning billions of light-years and shaping the large-scale structure of the cosmos. These immense structures are composed of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and Dark Matter and Dark Energy, forming a vast cosmic web of voids, filaments, nodes, clusters, etc.
The deeper our technological eyes penetrate into the darkness of the Universe, the more diverse and larger and more complex megastructures we discover. The cosmological principle falters, uniformity, homogeneity seem to require more and more Space to manifest themselves, and with it Time, the supposed age of the Universe predicted by the Big Bang model, which seems less and less sufficient to justify what we observe.
Cosmic megastructures can be classified based on their scale, composition, and formation processes. Here’s a structured classification:
- Galactic Megastructures
- Galaxy Groups: small collections of galaxies bound by gravity
- Galaxy Clusters: structures consisting of hundreds or even thousands galaxies bound together by gravity in turbulent giant Dark Matter / Dark Energy Halo that also contains vast amounts of hot gas
- Superclusters: massive groupings of galaxy clusters
- Large-Scale Cosmic Structures
- Voids: enormous empty regions between filaments, with very few galaxies
- The Cosmic Web: the large-scale structure of the Universe, consisting of interconnected filaments of galaxies, gas, stretching across billions of light-years
- Cosmic Filaments: the largest known structures, consisting of walls of galactic superclusters stretching across billions of light-years
- Cosmic Nodes: dense regions in the cosmic web where multiple filaments intersect. They are among the most massive and evolved regions in the Universe, often containing galaxy clusters
- Galactic Walls: vast sheets of galaxies
- Extreme Megastructures
- Giant Voids or Supervoids: exceptionally large voids
- Large Quasar Groups (LQGs): massive quasar formations
- Gamma-Ray Burst Structures: enormous formations detected via gamma-ray bursts
These structures define the Universe’s large-scale organization, influencing cosmic evolution and matter distribution
As mentioned in the previous section, Dark Matter Halos are not "invisible structures surrounding galaxies", but "structural components" of the galaxies themselves, which influence their formation and movement. We confuse the visible part of the galaxy with the galaxy in its entirety, which instead is formed by an invisible structure, a Dark Halo, made of Dark Matter (the internal bubble characterized by negative Mass, negative Perturbation value, lower than average Time flow rate), and Dark Energy (the external shell, but still part of the Dark Halo, characterized by positive Mass, positive Perturbation value, higher than average Time flow rate). The Dark Halo, thus composed, together with the galactic structures formed by Ordinary (visible) Matter "is the galaxy".
The same thing is true for cosmic structures that aggregate galaxies in gravitational systems, the "clusters of galaxies", which, due to their formation and internal and external dynamics, acquire an individual character and in turn become the building blocks that compose even larger and more complex structures, such as superclusters, and also the filaments and nodes that make up the Cosmic Web.
Let's now look in more detail at two of the most important types of cosmic megastructures, which define the large-scale (obviously turbulent) organization of the Universe, shaping its evolution. I am obviously talking about the Voids and the Cosmic Web, complementary elements that together fill the entire cosmos.
Voids and Giant Voids
Cosmic voids are fundamental parts of the Dark Cosmic Web, the Dark (invisible) Matter / Energy component of the universal (dark and visible) Cosmic Web.
Generally a void is described as "a vast empty region in the Universe where galaxies are scarce or absent". The way in which cosmic voids are represented says a lot about the current consolidated knowledge on the nature, structure and dynamics of these enigmatic vast objects, essential to understand the structure of the cosmos and therefore the Cosmic Web.
As for galaxies, also in this case the central role (or exclusive, in the case of voids without visible galaxies) is played by the dark components, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. As we will see better in the last section of this chapter, entitled "A brief history of the Universe", cosmic voids, although invisible, are dynamic objects, in ceaseless evolution, responsible for the formation of the entire structure of the Universe, both of the dark / invisible side and of the visible side, of the structures of ordinary matter that sparkle in the darkness of the cosmos.
Cosmic voids, although they are fundamental structural elements, formed in a remote past (much far beyond the supposed age predicted by the Big Bang), in primordial phases of the development of the Universe, and although they are objects with complex internal dynamics because they are turbulent (turbulent polydynamism), are not highly structured objects. They are like immense elementary particles, Dark Vortex-type InfoStructures, which incessantly rotate slowly and majestically in the immensity of the Universe, destined for a continuous expansion, limited only by the finite space available, compressed between other voids and giant voids.
Immense centrifugal force and low gravitational attraction due to the low density of Mass push free Ordinary Matter (gas, dust, etc.) and galaxies towards the interstitial spaces between empty bubbles, characterized by a higher density of Mass (smaller dark bubbles with a higher density of Mass) and therefore by a more intense gravitational attraction. For this reason, voids are substantially empty, the little Ordinary Matter and the few observed galaxies are inside the voids due to peculiar dynamics of the objects of the Cosmic Web. In certain conditions (collisions between clusters, galaxies, fusions of voids with opposite chirality, etc.) even large objects, such as entire galaxies (with their dark and visible components), can be thrown inside the voids, and then follow motions or find particular dynamic equilibria, with curious patterns, such as alignments or globular groupings. Once the push that threw them inside a void has run out, these objects are destined to return to the interstitial regions that we observe as filaments and nodes of the Cosmic Web.
As objects characterized by rotation, both intrinsic (in terms of Rotation:Chirality and Rotation:AxisOrientation of each point of the Elementary Field that from time to time supports the Existence and Essence / Form of the void) and extrinsic (the consequent rotation of the entire empty structure), they show a chirality (left-handed or right-handed). Due to the way they form, develop, evolve and interact with other voids, I expect that voids and even more so super voids, or giant voids, show a prevalence of a specific chirality (the same chirality that prevails in the rotation directions of galaxies).
It is not the entire Universe that rotates, as has recently been hypothesized, but its most extensive constitutive structures, the frame that supports the structure of the cosmos, so to speak, that is in rotation. Due to the interactions that have occurred in the past, we expect that voids of one type of chirality, due to an initial random fluctuation, have prevailed in the multiple fusions of voids that have occurred so far. Voids of opposite chiralities can merge, or even annihilate each other if the dimensions and density are "compatible", while concordant chiralities will tend to repel each other, leading to a progressive compression and increase in the density of Mass, and therefore of the intensity of rotation, laying the causal basis of the phenomenon that is called "cosmic expansion".
Let us now look at these aspects in a little more detail.
-> INSERT IMAGE: Voids in the structure of the Cosmic Web
Classification
Cosmic voids vary in size and characteristics, generally classified into:
- Mini-voids: small regions with reduced galaxy density, typically tens of millions of light-years across
- Standard voids: these span 100-200 million light-years and are commonly found within the cosmic web
- Giant voids: the largest known voids, can be hundreds of millions of light-years wide
Structure
As mentioned above, normally void regions are not completely empty; they contain sparse galaxies, dark matter turbulent sub-structures, and intergalactic gas. They are surrounded by filaments and clusters that form the visible part of the Cosmic Web — the vast network of Matter defining the Universe's large-scale structure.
-> INSERT IMAGE: Structure of a cosmic void
Cosmic voids can exhibit almost spherical shapes or, due to their particular dynamics and interaction with surrounding cosmic objects, they can assume deformed shapes. The shape evolves over time, as does the density of Mass, the distribution of Mass within it, the dynamics of the turbulent flows that characterize it, and so on. Naturally, given the vastness of the spatial extension of these objects, the times of their formation and evolution are immense, well beyond that of the evolution of galaxies, which form, aggregate, evolve, merge around them, in an endless dance.
Beyond the shape, which can be more or less spherical or deformed, the structure and nature of cosmic voids is absolutely standard. Ignoring any Ordinary Matter-in the form of gas, dust, etc. or entire galaxies, focusing on the void itself-the structure is quickly said.
The entire immense bubble that appears empty to us is a single Dark Halo, composed of:
- an internal part, the core, formed by Dark Matter, Matter with negative Mass, characterized by a gradient of Perturbation values that shows a negative peak in the central region, with a Mass density profile that degrades towards the center to an extremely modest extent (remember that Dark Halos are extended Structures, with low or very low Mass density),
- an almost spherical boundary that separates the Dark Matter core from the external shell of dark Energy,
- an external part, precisely, formed by Dark Matter, Matter with negative Mass, characterized by a gradient of Perturbation values that shows a positive peak at a certain distance from the aforementioned boundary, with a Mass density profile that from the maximum region degrades towards the boundary and towards the outside of the Halo.
For greater clarity, please refer to the images shown here.
The outer shell, given the greater freedom of redistribution of Dark Energy on volumes even much larger than those related to the Dark Matter tail, will tend to show a much more rarefied Mass density profile. Its repulsive effects will therefore be much smaller than the attractive effects of the Dark Matter that constitutes the core of the Dark Halo of the Void.
Only when, due to the specific dynamics of the Halo compared to the dynamics of the surrounding Halos, especially in relation to the concentration of many Halos in overcrowded, therefore very structured regions, the intense interaction favors the compression of the eternal Dark Energy shells, which thicken, also considerably increasing their repulsive power.
Added to this effect is the repulsion possibly produced by the concordance of the chirality of the rotation of the Dark Halos that constitute the Voids. In this case, as in the repulsion produced by the approach of two electric charges of the same sign, to the repulsion produced by the concentration of Dark Energy, a strong repulsion is added, produced precisely by the chirality ratios of the internal and external rotational dynamics of the Voids. This repulsion can be possibly mitigated by the presence of Halos of smaller spatial extension, but of greater density of Mass. Let's think of the Dark Halos of galaxies, which, around the immense Halos that constitute the Voids, can form as lubricating cushions /filaments, nodes, superclusters, clusters, galaxies, turbulent flows almost linear or torsional.
Formation
Voids emerge from early universe density fluctuations. As matter accumulates into filaments, clusters, and galaxies, surrounding regions lose material, resulting in vast empty spaces. Gravity gradually accentuates these voids over billions of years.
The first (Dark) Structures and their evolution
"Soft gradients nested in other gradients, uncertain flows, turbulent eddies" in a very slow evolution lead to the formation of the first Dark Structures.
More and more extensive vortices, always extremely thin, gradually evolve conquering the infinite space. Up to interacting, merging, annihilating. Vortices that increasingly extend and slower rotate on themselves, permeated by the nascent form, vortices of currents of Elementary Events, of Relations, stochastic Processes that little by little, in the spatial and temporal dimensional expansion, acquire more and more deterministic flavor and consistency.
Vortices that will evolve towards the gigantic voids that draw the profile of the cosmic web in the cosmos, and smaller bubbles than in the nodes of the web will be the cradles of the superclusters, and inside smaller bubbles that will welcome clusters of galaxies, even smaller bubbles that of galaxies will form the halos that make up the dark matter part, even smaller bubbles within the halos, bubbles that will lead to the formation of clusters of stars in formation, and so on in an endlessly nested structure.
Vortices, bubbles, halos, with approximate, intertwined, nested shapes, which interact in an endless dance, which occupies all the space and all the time that the Elementary Events, the correlations between their distributions, draw in the dynamics of the Field under the ceaseless action of the Force.
To understand the shape, the dynamics, the evolution of these first dark structures we must refer to the Modes of Elementary Action (Perturbation, Translation, Rotation Chirality and Rotation Axis orientation) and observe their characteristic profiles:
Evolution
Voids grow over time due to gravitational expansion. As the universe expands, matter flows out of voids and into denser regions, increasing their size. Some smaller voids merge to form larger ones, reshaping cosmic structures.
Dynamics and Interactions
Despite their emptiness, voids influence cosmic behavior:
Galaxies within voids: Tend to be isolated and may evolve differently from those in dense environments.
Dark energy and expansion: Voids provide insights into cosmic acceleration and the role of dark energy.
Gravitational effects: Matter moves outward from voids, reinforcing surrounding galaxy clusters.
By studying voids, astronomers gain deeper insights into the universe’s structure, the nature of dark matter and energy, and how galaxies evolve in different environments.
Structural and dynamical decomposition in the terms of the Fundamental Physical Quantities of Information / Energy
Structural and dynamical decomposition in the terms of the Dynamics of Elementary Action and its Modes / Components
In conclusion
They form due to gravitational forces pulling matter into denser regions, leaving behind immense gaps. They form as gravity pulls matter into dense clusters, leaving behind vast empty spaces.
The largest of these are giant voids, spanning hundreds of millions of light-years. The largest of these, known as giant voids, can stretch across hundreds of millions of light-years.
One notable example is the Boötes Void, which is nearly 330 million light-years wide and contains very few galaxies. A famous example is the Boötes Void, an enormous expanse about 330 million light-years wide, containing only a handful of galaxies.
Studying these voids helps scientists understand cosmic expansion, dark matter, and galaxy formation. These voids play a crucial role in understanding the large-scale structure of the universe. They help astrophysicists study dark matter, cosmic expansion, and galaxy formation.
Despite their emptiness, they shape the universe’s structure by influencing the motion of surrounding matter. They offer clues about the early universe and how different regions evolved over time. These vast gaps highlight the delicate balance between cosmic emptiness and dense galaxy clusters. Exploring them deepens our knowledge of the universe and raises new questions about its development.
Despite their emptiness, voids influence the movement of matter, shaping the cosmic web. Exploring them reveals clues about the early universe and how structures evolved. They remind us of the universe's intricate balance between vast emptiness and clustered existence. The more we study them, the more mysteries emerge.
Cosmic Web
Voids, filaments and nodes form the universal Cosmic Web (Dark and Ordinary, invisible and visible).
I have just spoken about voids. Let us now examine the most visible part of the content of the Universe.
-> INSERT IMAGE: Filaments and nodes in the structure of the Cosmic Web
Classification
Structure
-> INSERT IMAGE: Structure of cosmic filaments and nodes
Formation
Evolution
Dynamics and Interactions
Invisible attractors
Structural and dynamical decomposition in the terms of the Fundamental Physical Quantities of Information / Energy
Structural and dynamical decomposition in the terms of the Dynamics of Elementary Action and its Modes / Components
In conclusion
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