Will Cosmic web filaments eventually vanish?

[MikeeMiracle]

TL;DR Summary

Will Cosmic web filaments eventually vanish?

With Dark Energy expanding the universe and the spaces between the cosmic web filaments, will the filaments in the cosmic web become so stretched out / diffuse that they will eventually contain minimal / no baryonic or Dark Matter and only galaxy clusters currently at the junction points of filaments will remain?

 

[AndyW]

I can provide some insights on this topic. The cosmic web is a large-scale structure of the universe, consisting of filaments of gas and dark matter that connect different galaxy clusters. These filaments play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of galaxies.

The expansion of the universe, driven by dark energy, is causing the filaments to stretch out and become more diffuse. However, it is unlikely that they will completely lose all of their baryonic and dark matter content. This is because the filaments are constantly being replenished by the infall of matter from surrounding regions.

Moreover, recent studies have shown that dark matter and baryonic matter are distributed differently within the cosmic web. While dark matter tends to concentrate along the filaments, baryonic matter is more evenly distributed throughout the web. This means that even as the filaments stretch out, they will still contain a significant amount of baryonic matter.

Furthermore, the presence of galaxy clusters at the junction points of filaments is not solely due to the filaments themselves. These clusters are formed by the merging of smaller structures, such as galaxy groups, which are also connected by filaments. Therefore, even if the filaments were to become more diffuse, the galaxy clusters would still exist.

In conclusion, while the expansion of the universe may cause the filaments in the cosmic web to become more stretched out and diffuse, they will still contain significant amounts of baryonic and dark matter. The galaxy clusters at the junction points of filaments will also continue to exist, as they are formed by a combination of merging structures.