Return to the Great Attractor: Strong Evidence for a Steradian-sized Flow Converging at $\sim$70 Mpc within the GA Supercluster and Aligned with the CMB Dipole

TL;DR

This study uses high-precision surface-brightness-fluctuation measurements to confirm a strong local flow towards the Great Attractor, aligning with the CMB dipole and challenging larger-scale bulk flow claims.

Contribution

It provides the first high-accuracy distance measurements confirming a localized flow consistent with the Great Attractor and CMB dipole, refining our understanding of local cosmic flows.

Findings

Confirmed a strong flow peaking at ~1000 km/s converging at ~70 Mpc.

Supported the original Great Attractor model with a ~140 Mpc diameter.

Challenged claims of large-scale bulk flows inconsistent with CMB fluctuations.

Abstract

We used the FourStar near-IR camera on Magellan-Baade to obtain high S/N H-Band imaging of 66 galaxies with radial velocities of 2000 < V < 5000 km/s. Our goal was to use the superior distance measurements of surface-brightness-fluctuations (SBF) to derive ``peculiar velocities'' to test claims that the CMB dipole anisotropy, equivalent to $\approx$600 km/s with respect to the Local Group, arises from a 'local' overdensity in the galaxy/dark-matter distribution -- the Great Attractor. SBF's ability to measure distances with 5% accuracy confirms a strong flow over a steradian of the sky peaking at Vpec $\sim$ 1000 km/s and converging to zero at D $\approx$70 Mpc from the Local Group. The modest spatial extent of this flow $R_V$ $\sim$ 5000 km/s is consistent with the original Great Attractor model (a diameter D $\sim$ 140 Mpc), as well as the magnitude and direction of the CMB dipole anisotropy, and the power spectrum of CMB fluctuations -- the latter two arguably the most secure measurements in astrophysics. In contrast, our results are at-odds with reports of comparable amplitude 'bulk flows' on scales of hundreds of Mpc that themselves may be inconsistent with the expected fluctuations in the CMB for a $\Lambda$CDM universe. We contend that only distance-estimators as accurate as SBF are able settle the question of whether the CMB dipole arises from the gravitational influence of large-scale structure within, or without $\sim$100 Mpc of the Local Group.