171 research outputs found
The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec Cluster Survey. II. Constraints on Large-Scale Streaming
The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec (LP10K) Tully-Fisher (TF) data set is used to
test for bulk streaming motions on a ~150 Mpc scale. The sample consists of 172
cluster galaxies in the original target range of the survey, 9000-13,000
km/sec, plus an additional 72 galaxies with cz < 30,000 km/sec. A
maximum-likelihood analysis that is insensitive to Malmquist and selection bias
effects is used to constrain the bulk velocity parameters, and realistic
Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out to correct residual biases and
determine statistical errors. When the analysis is restricted to the original
target range, the bias-corrected bulk flow is v_B=720 +/- 280 km/sec toward
l=266, b=19. When all objects out to z=0.1 are included the result is virtually
unchanged, v_B=700 +/- 250 km/sec toward l=272, b=10. The hypothesis that the
Hubble flow has converged to the CMB frame at distances less than ~ 100 Mpc is
ruled out at the 97% confidence level. The data are inconsistent with the flow
vector found by Lauer & Postman. However, the LP10K bulk flow is consistent
with that obtained from the SMAC survey of elliptical galaxies recently
described by Hudson et al. If correct, the LP10K results indicate that the
convergence depth for the Hubble flow is >~ 150 Mpc.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, uses emulateapj, submitted to the Astrophysical
Journal. Also available at http://astro.stanford.edu/jeff
Shellflow. I. The Convergence of the Velocity Field at 6000 km/s
We present the first results from the Shellflow program, an all-sky
Tully-Fisher (TF) peculiar velocity survey of 276 Sb-Sc galaxies with redshifts
between 4500 and 7000 km/s. Shellflow was designed to minimize systematic
errors between observing runs and between telescopes, thereby removing the
possibility of a spurious bulk flow caused by data inhomogeneity. A fit to the
data yields a bulk flow amplitude V_bulk = 70{+100}{-70} km/s (1 sigma error)
with respect to the Cosmic Microwave Background, i.e., consistent with being at
rest. At the 95% confidence level, the flow amplitude is < 300 km/s. Our
results are insensitive to which Galactic extinction maps we use, and to the
parameterization of the TF relation. The larger bulk motion found in analyses
of the Mark III peculiar velocity catalog are thus likely to be due to
non-uniformities between the subsamples making up Mark III. The absence of bulk
flow is consistent with the study of Giovanelli and collaborators and flow
field predictions from the observed distribution of IRAS galaxies.Comment: Accepted version for publication in ApJ. Includes an epitaph for
Jeffrey Alan Willick (Oct 8, 1959 - Jun 18, 2000
A measurement of large-scale peculiar velocities of clusters of galaxies: technical details
This paper presents detailed analysis of large-scale peculiar motions derived
from a sample of ~ 700 X-ray clusters and cosmic microwave background (CMB)
data obtained with WMAP. We use the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (KSZ) effect
combining it into a cumulative statistic which preserves the bulk motion
component with the noise integrated down. Such statistic is the dipole of CMB
temperature fluctuations evaluated over the pixels of the cluster catalog
(Kashlinsky & Atrio-Barandela 2000). To remove the cosmological CMB
fluctuations the maps are Wiener-filtered in each of the eight WMAP channels
(Q, V, W) which have negligible foreground component. Our findings are as
follows: The thermal SZ (TSZ) component of the clusters is described well by
the Navarro-Frenk-White profile expected if the hot gas traces the dark matter
in the cluster potential wells. Such gas has X-ray temperature decreasing
rapidly towards the cluster outskirts, which we demonstrate results in the
decrease of the TSZ component as the aperture is increased to encompass the
cluster outskirts. We then detect a statistically significant dipole in the CMB
pixels at cluster positions. Arising exclusively at the cluster pixels this
dipole cannot originate from the foreground or instrument noise emissions and
must be produced by the CMB photons which interacted with the hot intracluster
gas via the SZ effect. The dipole remains as the monopole component, due to the
TSZ effect, vanishes within the small statistical noise out to the maximal
aperture where we still detect the TSZ component. We demonstrate with
simulations that the mask and cross-talk effects are small for our catalog and
contribute negligibly to the measurements. The measured dipole thus arises from
the KSZ effect produced by the coherent large scale bulk flow motion.Comment: Minor changes to match the published version - Ap.J., 1 Feb 2009
issu
Distances from the Correlation between Galaxy Luminosities and Rotation Rates
A large luminosity--linewidth template sample is now available, improved
absorption corrections have been derived, and there are a statistically
significant number of galaxies with well determined distances to supply the
zero point. A revised estimate of the Hubble Constant is H_0=77 +-4 km/s/Mpc
where the error is the 95% probability statistical error. Systematic
uncertainties are potentially twice as large.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. Invited chapter for the book `Post-Hipparcos
Cosmic Candles', Eds. F. Caputo and A. Heck (Kluwer Academic Publishers,
Dordrecht
The Bulk Motion of Flat Edge-On Galaxies Based on 2MASS Photometry
We report the results of applying the 2MASS Tully-Fisher (TF) relations to
study the galaxy bulk flows. For 1141 all-sky distributed flat RFGC galaxies we
construct J, H, K_s TF relations and find that Kron magnitudes show
the smallest dispersion on the TF diagram. For the sample of 971 RFGC galaxies
with V_{3K} < 18000 km/s we find a dispersion and an
amplitude of bulk flow V= 199 +/-61 km/s, directed towards l=301 degr +/-18
degr, b=-2 degr +/-15 degr. Our determination of low-amplitude coherent flow is
in good agreement with a set of recent data derived from EFAR, PSCz, SCI/SCII
samples. The resultant two- dimensional smoothed peculiar velocity field traces
well the large-scale density variations in the galaxy distributions. The
regions of large positive peculiar velocities lie in the direction of the Great
Attractor and Shapley concentration. A significant negative peculiar velocity
is seen in the direction of Bootes and in the direction of the Local void. A
small positive peculiar velocity (100 -- 150 km/s) is seen towards the
Pisces-Perseus supercluster, as well as the Hercules - Coma - Corona Borealis
supercluster regions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. A&A/2003/3582 accepted 15.05.200
Spatial gradients in the cosmological constant
It is possible that there may be differences in the fundamental physical
parameters from one side of the observed universe to the other. I show that the
cosmological constant is likely to be the most sensitive of the physical
parameters to possible spatial variation, because a small variation in any of
the other parameters produces a huge variation of the cosmological constant. It
therefore provides a very powerful {\em indirect} evidence against spatial
gradients or temporal variation in the other fundamental physical parameters,
at least 40 orders of magnitude more powerful than direct experimental
constraints. Moreover, a gradient may potentially appear in theories where the
variability of the cosmological constant is connected to an anthropic selection
mechanism, invoked to explain the smallness of this parameter. In the Hubble
damping mechanism for anthropic selection, I calculate the possible gradient.
While this mechanism demonstrates the existence of this effect, it is too small
to be seen experimentally, except possibly if inflation happens around the
Planck scale.Comment: 12 page
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