All matter, including galaxy clusters, galaxies, and their constituents follow orbits and flows driven by the net attraction of near and distant masses. The book presents the development of studies of peculiar motions along with discoveries in large-scale structure, the cosmic microwave background, baryonic oscillations, gravity waves, and their relation to current work on gravitation and dark matter.The results of peculiar motion measurements in the late 20th century are described as they were used to search for the dipole of the galaxy motions, a determination of cosmic density, and to compare with the cosmic microwave dipole, which led to the discovery of galactic flows and the Great Attractor. Newer detailed measurements from surveys in the 21st century have helped resolve the nature of these structures. Some prospects for future investigations are discussed.
Contents:
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Historical Summary
- The Beginnings of Modern Astrophysics
- Cosmological N-body Simulations
- Galaxy Evolution and Semi-analytic Models
- Early Developments on Large-Scale Structure
- Unanswered Questions About Gravity
- Magnitude Scale, Photometry, and Reddening
- Distance Determinations and Systematic Corrections
- The Malmquist and Other Biases
- The Extragalactic Distance Ladder
- Scaling Relations as Distance Indicators
- Nearby Peculiar Velocities
- Measurements and Analysis Methods of Distant Peculiar Velocities
- The Great Attractor and Peculiar Velocity Studies
- Revolution by CMB Studies
- Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs)
- Gravitational Lensing
- Motions of Binary Galaxy Clusters
- Gravitational Radiation
- 21st Century Peculiar Motions Studies
- Concluding Remarks
- Bibliography
- Index
Readership: Students and researchers interested in astrophysics and cosmology.
Key Features:
- It gives a more detailed coverage of peculiar motions than other books including the distance scale, observational and bias corrections
- It has a historical development of the discovery of peculiar motions up to their present state, not usually presented, and discusses other motions driven by gravity
- It connects peculiar motions with other recent discoveries, including the cosmic microwave background, baryonic oscillations, gravity waves, etc. It could make a companion to more detailed technical treatises on these subjects
