A Topological Analysis of Large Scale Structure Using the CMASS Sample of SDSS-III

We study the three-dimensional genus topology of large-scale structure using the CMASS Data Release 11 sample of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The CMASS sample yields a genus curve that is characteristic of one produced by Gaussian random-phase initial conditions. The data thus supports the standard model of inflation where random quantum fluctuations in the early universe produced Gaussian random-phase initial conditions. Modest deviations in the observed genus from random phase are as expected from the nonlinear evolution of structure. We construct mock SDSS CMASS surveys along the past light cone from the Horizon Run 3 (HR3) N-body simulations, where gravitationally bound dark matter subhalos are identified as the sites of galaxy formation. We study the genus topology of the HR3 mock surveys with the same geometry and sampling density as the observational sample, and the observed genus topology to be consistent with LCDM as simulated by the HR3 mock samples.