VOID PROBABILITY FUNCTION IN THE SOUTHERN SKY REDSHIFT SURVEY

We investigate the statistical properties of the distribution of galaxies in the Southern Sky Redshift Survey (SSRS) utilizing the J3 integral and the void probability function (VPF) to test for scaling relations, luminosity segregation, and possible variations with the depth of the sample. From the analysis of the southern sample, less sensitive to the flow model adopted to estimate galaxy distances, we confirm earlier claims for the existence of luminosity segregation. We also confirm that the VPF obeys a universal scaling relation, independent of sample depth and luminosity. However, comparison of the VPFs for volume-limited samples shows that larger voids occur more frequently in the southern hemisphere, probably indicating that the samples considered may not yet represent fair samples of the universe at large.