Local Void vs Dark Energy: Confrontation with WMAP and Type Ia Supernovae

It is now a known fact that if we happen to be living in the middle of a large underdense region, then we will observe an ``apparent acceleration'', even when any form of dark energy is absent. In this paper, we present a ``Minimal Void'' scenario, i.e. a ``void'' with minimal underdensity contrast (of about -0.4) and radius (~ 200-250 Mpc/h) that can, not only be consistent with the supernovae data, but also with the 3-yr WMAP data. We also discuss consistency of our model with various other measurements such as Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and local measurements of the Hubble parameter. We also point out possible other observable signatures.