THE LARGE-SCALE rms BULK VELOCITY ESTIMATED FROM QUASAR Lyα FORESTS

摘要

We propose a method for estimating the large-scale rms bulk velocity of the cosmic mass field from the transmitted fluxes of Lyα forests. It is based on two linear relationships on large scales: (1) the relation between the fluctuations of the transmission and the underlying density field, and (2) the relation between the density fluctuations and the peculiar velocity field. We show that with a multiscale decomposition, the two relations can be effectively employed for predicting the rms bulk velocity. Since quasar (QSO) Lyα forests are due to the absorptions of diffusely distributed and photoionized intergalactic medium (IGM), this method provides an independent estimate of the rms bulk velocity at high redshifts, on large scales, and free from the bias of galaxies. Using the transmitted flux of 60 moderate-resolution QSO spectra, the rms bulk velocity is found to be 230 +- 50 km s~(-1) around redshift z = 2.25 on a scale of 23 h~(-1) Mpc, and down to 110 +- 45 km s~(-1) around z = 3.25 on a scale of 92 h~(-1) Mpc for a low-density cold dark matter universe (Ω = 0.3 and Λ = 0.7). The results are basically consistent with linear evolution theory.