Clusters, filaments, and voids in a universe dominated by cold dark matter

The authors present new N-body results concerning the behavior of a flat cold dark matter universe on scales larger than 10 Mpc. They adopt the biasing model which was previously found to provide a good match to observations of galaxy clustering on small and intermediate scales. The present investigation focuses on the properties of rich clusters, voids, filaments and other large-scale features. The model produces the observed abundance of Abell clusters of richness class greater than 0 and is consistent with estimates of the abundance of richer systems. In the model voids approaching the size of the one in Bootes are readily formed. The authors conclude that the results not only provide strong support for the cold dark matter model, but they also demonstrate that present observations of the galaxy distribution do not require an open universe, initial conditions with nonrandom phases, pregalactic explosions, or other large-scale nongravitational processes.