Alpha, Betti and the Megaparsec Universe: on the Topology of the Cosmic Web

We study the topology of the Megaparsec Cosmic Web in terms of the scale-dependent Betti numbers, which formalize the topological information content of the cosmic mass distribution. While the Betti numbers do not fully quantify topology, they extend the information beyond conventional cosmological studies of topology in terms of genus and Euler characteristic. The richer information content of Betti numbers goes along the availability of fast algorithms to compute them. For continuous density fields, we determine the scale-dependence of Betti numbers by invoking the cosmologically familiar filtration of sublevel or superlevel sets defined by density thresholds. For the discrete galaxy distribution, however, the analysis is based on the alpha shapes of the particles. These simplicial complexes constitute an ordered sequence of nested subsets of the Delaunay tessellation, a filtration defined by the scale parameter, $\alpha$. As they are homotopy equivalent to the sublevel sets of the distance field, they are an excellent tool for assessing the topological structure of a discrete point distribution. In order to develop an intuitive understanding for the behavior of Betti numbers as a function of $\alpha$, and their relation to the morphological patterns in the Cosmic Web, we first study them within the context of simple heuristic Voronoi clustering models. Subsequently, we address the topology of structures emerging in the standard LCDM scenario and in cosmological scenarios with alternative dark energy content. The evolution and scale-dependence of the Betti numbers is shown to reflect the hierarchical evolution of the Cosmic Web and yields a promising measure of cosmological parameters. We also discuss the expected Betti numbers as a function of the density threshold for superlevel sets of a Gaussian random field.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figure

Alpha Shape Topology of the Cosmic Web

We study the topology of the Megaparsec Cosmic Web on the basis of the Alpha Shapes of the galaxy distribution. The simplicial complexes of the alpha shapes are used to determine the set of Betti numbers (βk, k = 1, . . . , D), which represent a complete characterization of the topology of a manifold. This forms a useful extension of the geometry and topology of the galaxy distribution by Minkowski functionals, of which three specify the geometrical structure of surfaces and one, the Euler characteristic, represents merely a summary of its topology. In order to develop an intuitive understanding for the relation between Betti numbers and the running α parameter of the alpha shapes, and thus in how far they may discriminate between different topologies, we study them within the context of simple heuristic Voronoi clustering models. These may be tuned to consist of a few or even only one specific morphological element of the Cosmic Web, ie. clusters, filaments or sheets.