No Arabic abstract
We analyze in detail the peculiar velocity field traced by 56 clusters within 120 h^-1 Mpc in the Streaming Motions of Abell Clusters (SMAC) sample. The bulk flow of the SMAC sample is 687 +- 203 km/s, toward l = 260 +- 13, b = 0 +- 11. We discuss possible systematic errors and show that no systematic effect is larger than half of the random error. The flow does not drop off significantly with depth, which suggests that it is generated by structures on large scales. In particular, a Great Attractor as originally proposed by Lynden-Bell et al. cannot be responsible for the SMAC bulk flow. The SMAC data suggest infall into an attractor at the location of the Shapley Concentration, but the detection is marginal (at the 90% confidence level). We find that distant attractors in addition to the Shapley Concentration are required to explain the SMAC bulk flow. A comparison with peculiar velocities predicted from the IRAS PSCz redshift survey shows good agreement with a best fit value of Beta_I = Omega^0.6/b_I = 0.39 +- 0.17. However, the PSCz density field is not sufficient to acount for all of the SMAC bulk motion. We also detect, at the 98% confidence level, a residual bulk flow of 372 +- 127 km/s toward l = 273, b = 6 which must be generated by sources not included in the PSCz catalogue, that is, either beyond 200 h^-1 Mpc, in the Zone of Avoidance or in superclusters undersampled by IRAS. Finally, we compare the SMAC bulk flow with other recent measurements. We suggest that a bulk flow of 225 km/s toward l = 300, b = 10 at depths greater than 60 h^-1 Mpc is consistent with all peculiar velocity surveys, when allowance is made for sparse sampling effects. (abridged)
In preceding papers of this series, TF relations for galaxies in 24 clusters with radial velocities between 1000 and 9200 km/s (SCI sample) were obtained, a Tully-Fisher (TF) template relation was constructed and mean offsets of each cluster with respect to the template obtained. Here, an estimate of the line-of-sight peculiar velocities of the clusters and their associated errors are given. It is found that cluster peculiar velocities in the Cosmic Microwave Background reference frame do not exceed 600 k/ms and that their distribution has a line-of-sight dispersion of 300 k/ms, suggesting a more quiescent cluster peculiar velocity field than previously reported. When measured in a reference frame in which the Local Group is at rest, the set of clusters at cz > 3000 km/s exhibits a dipole moment in agreement with that of the CMB, both in amplitude and apex direction. It is estimated that the bulk flow of a sphere of 6000 km/s radius in the CMB reference frame is between 140 and 320 km/s. These results are in agreement with those obtained from an independent sample of field galaxies (Giovanelli et al. 1998; see astro-ph/9807274)
We have measured the mean peculiar motions of 103 early-type galaxies in 7 clusters in the Perseus-Pisces (PP) ridge or PP background, and a further 249 such galaxies in 9 calibrating clusters from the literature, using the inverse Fundamental Plane relation. This relation is found to have a distance error of 20% per galaxy. None of the 6 clusters in the PP ridge has a significant motion with respect to the CMB frame, but the PP background cluster J8 shows marginal evidence of `backside infall into the PP supercluster. The full 16 cluster sample has a mean CMB-frame bulk motion of 420 +/- 280 km/s, towards l=262, b=-25. This result is consistent both with no bulk motion in the CMB frame and with the ~350 km/s bulk motion found by Courteau et al. It is inconsistent at the 98% confidence level with the ~700 km/s bulk flow found by Lauer & Postman (LP). The PP ridge clusters are found to have a small and statistically insignificant mean radial motion with respect to the CMB frame: -60 +/- 220 km/s. A comparison between our cluster peculiar velocities and the predicted peculiar velocities from the IRAS 1.2 Jy density field, smoothed on a 500 km/s scale, yields beta_I = Omega^0.6/b_I = 0.95 +/- 0.48, consistent with previous results. We find agreement between our peculiar motions and published Tully-Fisher results for the same clusters. The disagreement between the 11 clusters common to our sample and that of LP, based on BCGs, is statistically significant at the >~ 99.7% confidence level indicating that the errors of one or both of these data sets are underestimated. When the BCG distances corrected for the X-ray luminosity of the host cluster are used, the disagreement is reduced to the ~94% confidence level. (Abridged)
We present results of a new study of peculiar motions of 7 clusters in the Perseus-Pisces (PP) region, using the Fundamental Plane as a distance indicator. The sample is calibrated by reference to 9 additional clusters with data from the literature. Careful attention is paid to the matching of spectroscopic and photometric data from several sources. For six clusters in the PP supercluster no significant peculiar motions are detected. For these clusters we derive a bulk motion of 60 +/- 220 km/s, in the CMB frame, directed towards the Local Group. This non-detection is in marginal conflict with previous Tully-Fisher studies. Two clusters in the background of the supercluster exhibit significant negative peculiar velocities, characteristic of backside infall into PP. A bulk-flow fit to all 16 clusters reveals a statistically insignificant motion of 430 +/- 280 km/s towards l=265, b=26 (CMB frame). Comparison with the velocity field predicted from the IRAS 1.2Jy survey yields beta = 1.0 +/- 0.5. We find no evidence for residual bulk motions generated by mass concentrations beyond the limiting depth of the IRAS density field.
We investigate the rms peculiar velocity of galaxy clusters in the Lambda cold dark matter ($Lambda$CDM) and tau cold dark matter ($tau$CDM) cosmological models using N-body simulations. Cluster velocities for different cluster masses and radii are examined. To identify clusters in the simulations we use two methods: the standard friends-of-friends (FOF) method and the method, where the clusters are defined as the maxima of the density field smoothed on the scale $Rsim 1h^{-1}$ Mpc (DENSMAX). If we use the DENSMAX method, the size of the selected clusters is similar for all clusters. We find that the rms velocity of clusters defined with the DENSMAX method is almost independent of the cluster density and similar to the linear theory expectations. The rms velocity of FOF clusters decreases with the cluster mass and radius. In the $Lambda$CDM model, the rms peculiar velocity of massive clusters with an intercluster separation $d_{cl}=50h^{-1}$ Mpc is $approx$15% smaller than the rms velocity of the clusters with a separation $d_{cl}=10h^{-1}$Mpc.