Turnaround overdensity as a cosmological observable: the case for a local measurement of $\Lambda$

Abstract

We demonstrate that, in the context of the $\Lambda$CDM model, it is in principle possible to measure the value of the cosmological constant by tracing, across cosmic time, the evolution of the turnaround radius of cosmic structures. The novelty of the presented method is that it is local, in the sense that it uses the effect of the cosmological constant on the relatively short scales of cosmic structures and not on the dynamics of the Universe at its largest scales. In this way, it can provide an important consistency check for the standard cosmological model and can give signs of new physics, beyond $\Lambda$CDM.