Can Standard Cosmological Models Explain the Observed Abell Cluster Bulk Flow?

Abstract

Lauer \& Postman (LP) observe that all Abell clusters with redshifts less than 15,000\kms\ appear to be participating in a bulk flow of 689 km s${}^{-1}$ with respect to the Cosmic Microwave Background. We find this result difficult to reconcile with all popular models for large-scale structure formation that assume Gaussian initial conditions. This conclusion is based on Monte-Carlo realizations of the LP data, drawn from large Particle-Mesh $N$-body simulations. We have taken special care to treat properly the longest-wavelength components of the power spectra. Bulk flows with amplitude as large as that reported by LP are not uncommon in the Monte-Carlo datasets. However, the ${\chi }^2$ of the observed bulk flow, taking into account the anisotropy of the error ellipsoid, is much more difficult to match in the simulations. The models examined are ruled out at confidence levels between 94\% and 98\%. Any model that has {\it intrinsic} flows of less than 480\kms\ on the scales probed by LP scales can be ruled out at a similar level.

Submitted to ApJ. 31 pages of uuencoded compressed postscript (810 kbytes); figures included. Also available via anonymous ftp to eku.ias.edu in /pub/strauss/warpfire/warpfire.ps.Z

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