Visualization of structures and cosmic flows in the Local Universe

TL;DR

This paper presents detailed 3D visualizations of structures and cosmic flows in the Local Universe, utilizing redshift and peculiar velocity data to explore galaxy distributions, voids, clusters, and galaxy motions.

Contribution

It introduces new visualizations of cosmic structures and flows based on the V8k redshift catalog and Cosmicflows-1 data, highlighting the dynamics of the Local Universe.

Findings

Identification of major structures like voids, clusters, filaments, and walls.

Visualization of galaxy motions including Local Void expulsion and Virgo infall.

Analysis of the Milky Way's motion components in the local cosmic context.

Abstract

A visualization of three-dimensional structures and cosmic flows is presented using information from the Extragalactic Distance Database V8k redshift catalog and peculiar velocities from the Cosmicflows-1 survey. Structures within a volume bounded at 8000 km/s on the cardinal Supergalactic axes are explored in terms of both the display of the positions of the 30124 galaxies of the catalog and its reconstructed luminosity density field, corrected to account for growing incompleteness with distance. Cosmography of the Local Universe is discussed with the intent to identify the most prominent structures, including voids, galaxy clusters, filaments and walls. The mapping also benefits from precise distance measures provided through the Cosmicflows-1 observational program. Three-dimensional visualizations of the coherent flows of galaxies in the nearby universe are presented using recent results obtained on the reconstruction of cosmic flows with the Wiener Filter approach. The three major components of the Milky Way motion, namely the expulsion from the Local Void, the infall toward the Virgo Cluster, and the bulk flow of the historic Local Supercluster toward the Great Attractor are illustrated using different visualization techniques and analyzed in the light of the cosmography derived from the V8k redshift and Cosmicflows-1 distance catalogs.