Local Group Velocity from the PSCz and BTP Surveys

Kenton J. D'Mellow, Will Saunders and PSCz/BTP Teams

Abstract

We present a brief overview and preliminary measure of the Local Group velocity, using the PSCz survey together with its recently completed extension into the Galactic plane, the Behind The Plane (BTP) survey. The addition of the BTP has increased the total sky coverage from 84% to 93%, drastically reducing the systematic uncertainty in the direction of the local gravitational pull caused by incomplete sky coverage. We present methods that self-consistently determine the acceleration in the presence of redshift distortions. Preliminary results suggest that the dipole converges within the survey limiting depth. There is a large, but only marginally significant, component to the dipole arising at 180–200 h^–1 Mpc.

Keywords: cosmology: large-scale structure — galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 21(4) 415 - 417 (2004) doi:10.1071/AS04047