The orientation of disk galaxies around large cosmic voids

Using a large sample of galaxies from the SDSS-DR7, we have analysed the alignment of disk galaxies around cosmic voids. We have constructed a complete sample of cosmic voids (devoid of galaxies brighter than M_r-5 log(h) =-20.17) with radii larger than 10 Mpc/h up to redshift 0.12. Disk galaxies in shells around these voids have been used to look for particular alignments between the angular momentum of the galaxies and the radial direction of the voids. We find that disk galaxies around voids larger than >~ 15 Mpc/h within distances not much larger than 5 Mpc/h from the surface of the voids present a significant tendency to have their angular momenta aligned with the void's radial direction with a significance >~ 98.8% against the null hypothesis. The strength of this alignment is dependent on the void's radius and for voids with ~<15 Mpc/h the distribution of the orientation of the galaxies is compatible with a random distribution. Finally, we find that this trend observed in the alignment of galaxies is similar to the one observed for the minor axis of dark matter halos around cosmic voids found in cosmological simulations, suggesting a possible link in the evolution of both components.
Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, 7 tables, catalog of voids will be published electronically, accepted for publication in ApJ