Excursion Sets and Non-Gaussian Void Statistics
  Primordial non-Gaussianity (NG) affects the large scale structure (LSS) of
the universe by leaving an imprint on the distribution of matter at late times.
Much attention has been focused on using the distribution of collapsed objects
(i.e. dark matter halos and the galaxies and galaxy clusters that reside in
them) to probe primordial NG. An equally interesting and complementary probe
however is the abundance of extended underdense regions or voids in the LSS.
The calculation of the abundance of voids using the excursion set formalism in
the presence of primordial NG is subject to the same technical issues as the
one for halos, which were discussed e.g. in arXiv:1005.1203. However, unlike
the excursion set problem for halos which involved random walks in the presence
of one barrier $\delta_c$, the void excursion set problem involves two barriers
$\delta_v$ and $\delta_c$. This leads to a new complication introduced by what
is called the "void-in-cloud" effect discussed in the literature, which is
unique to the case of voids. We explore a path integral approach which allows
us to carefully account for all these issues, leading to a rigorous derivation
of the effects of primordial NG on void abundances. The void-in-cloud issue in
particular makes the calculation conceptually rather different from the one for
halos. However, we show that its final effect can be described by a simple yet
accurate approximation. Our final void abundance function is valid on larger
scales than the expressions of other authors, while being broadly in agreement
with those expressions on smaller scales.
