Previous | Session 170 | Next | Author Index | Block Schedule
K. L. Masters (Harvard-SAO CfA, Cornell Univ.), C. M. Springob (Naval Research Lab, Cornell Univ.), M. P. Haynes, R. Giovanelli (Cornell University), J. P. Huchra (Harvard-SAO CfA)
Peculiar velocities provide a powerful tool to study the distribution of mass directly, without the complicated details of galaxy and star formation. In the linear regime peculiar velocities are directly proportional to the underlying gravitational acceleration. The SFI++ Tully-Fisher sample is the largest currently available homogeneous sample for the study of peculiar velocities. We report on preliminary results on the local density and velocity fields from the SFI++ sample, both from parametric and non-parametric modeling. We introduce a proposed 2MASS selected all-sky peculiar velocity survey. This survey will provide significant improvements over the SFI++ and other currently available peculiar velocity samples, both in statistics and sky coverage. Together with the 2MASS redshift survey (2MRS) a 2MASS peculiar velocity survey will settle the debate about the nature and size of the bias between galaxies and dark matter, and map the velocity and density fields in the local universe at unprecedented spatial resolution. This work has been partly supported by NSF Grant No. AST-0307396.
Previous | Session 170 | Next
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.