Lifetimes of sub-filaments relative to parent filaments

Establish the lifetimes of cosmic sub-filaments in comparison with the lifetimes of their parent filaments.

Background

The authors emphasize that the formation and evolution of sub-filaments are unresolved and that their embedded location exposes them to environmental processes absent or weaker in isolated filaments. Their persistence may therefore differ systematically from that of the larger parent structures.

A direct comparison of sub-filament and parent-filament lifetimes would help determine whether sub-filaments are transient features, long-lived components of the cosmic web, or structures whose survival is controlled by the evolution of their host filaments.