The integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprints of cosmic superstructures: a problem for ΛCDM

A crucial diagnostic of the ΛCDM cosmological model is the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect of large-scale structure on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The ISW imprint of superstructures of size \sim100\;h^{-1} Mpc at redshift $z\sim0.5$ has been detected with $>4σ$ significance, however it has been noted that the signal is much larger than expected. We revisit the calculation using linear theory predictions in ΛCDM cosmology for the number density of superstructures and their radial density profile, and take possible selection effects into account. While our expected signal is larger than previous estimates, it is still inconsistent by $>3σ$ with the observation. If the observed signal is indeed due to the ISW effect then huge, extremely underdense voids are far more common in the observed universe than predicted by ΛCDM.

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